Improving thermal stability of hard coating films via a concept of multicomponent alloying

• We propose a design route for the next generation of nitride alloys via a concept of multicomponent alloying based on self-organization on the nanoscale via a formation of metastable intermediate products during the spinodal decomposition. We predict theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that quasi-ternary (TiCrAl)N alloys decompose spinodally into (TiCr)N and (CrAl)N-rich nanometer sized regions. The spinodal decomposition results in age hardening, while the presence of Cr within the AlN phase delays the formation of a detrimental wurtzite phase leading to a substantial improvement of thermal stability compared to the quasi-binary (TiAl)N or (CrAl)N alloys.

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