WEAR RESISTANCE AND RADIATION TOLERANCE OF NANOSTRUCTURED TiAlN COATINGS

Abstract

The main goal of this research was to establish the influence of different deposition regimes on tribological properties of TiAlN coatings, as well as the effect of He⁺ ion irradiation on hardness and wear resistance of these coatings. Investigations were conducted on TiAlN coatings fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering. The irradiation of TiAlN coatings was performed at the ion accelerator «High Voltage Engineering Europa B.V.» using He⁺ ions with an energy of 500 keV and fluences of 5x10¹⁶ – 3x10¹⁷ ions/sm². Elemental composition was examined by the Rutherford backscattering method (RBS) with 1.5 MeV helium ions and a resolution of the detector of 15 keV. Structural properties have been studied by X-ray diffraction method (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Tribological tests were also conducted. It was shown, that nanostructured TiAlN coatings are radiation tolerant and are perspective as fuel claddings in nuclear reactors.