Improvement of the Wear and Corrosion Resistance of CrSiN Films on ZE52 Magnesium Alloy Through the DC Magnetron Sputtering Process
Journal
Materials
Journal Volume
18
Journal Issue
3
Start Page
536
ISSN
1996-1944
Date Issued
2025-02
Author(s)
Abstract
The utilization of magnesium alloys as lightweight structural materials is becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly within the fields of electronics, automotive engineering, and defense. These alloys display high specific strength and excellent heat dissipation properties. The magnesium–zinc–rare earth alloy ZE52 displays superior formability and strength-ductility when compared to conventional magnesium alloys. A CrSiN film was deposited on the surface using a sputtering technique with the objective of enhancing wear and corrosion resistance for industrial applications. A CrSi buffer layer was deposited onto the ZE52 substrate prior to the deposition of the CrSiN film, with the objective of enhancing the adhesion between the two materials. The sputtering process for CrSiN films entailed the modulation of the substrate bias voltage. The CrSiN films exhibited a nanocomposite structure comprising CrN nanocrystallites embedded within an amorphous Si3N4, which resulted in enhanced hardness. Upon adjusting the bias voltage, improvements in mechanical properties were observed, with the film hardness and Young’s modulus increasing to 16.5 GPa and 187.4 GPa, respectively. Among the various CrSiN coatings under investigation, the ZE52 alloy that was coated with a CrSiN film deposited at a bias voltage of −50 V and a substrate temperature of 250 °C demonstrated the most favorable performance, exhibiting the lowest wear rate and superior corrosion resistance. In the tungsten carbide wear test with a loading of 4 N, the coating exhibited the lowest wear rate, at 2.2 × 10−6 mm3·m−1·N−1. Furthermore, the coating demonstrated remarkable corrosion resistance in a 3.5% NaCl solution, displaying a corrosion current density of 1.23 μA·cm−2 and a polarization resistance of 1271.4 Ω·cm−2.
Subjects
corrosion
CrSiN thin film
magnetron sputtering
RE-bearing magnesium–zinc alloy
wear
Publisher
MDPI AG
Type
journal article