Influence of substrate pre-treatments on residual stresses and tribo-mechanical properties of TiAlN-based PVD coatings

Abstract Residual stresses in the substrate and in the PVD coating have a significant influence on the coating adhesion and lifespan of machining as well as forming tools. Therefore, the understanding and control of the system's residual stresses will lead to a better performance of the coated components. Moreover, although investigations were conducted in the field of stress analysis of PVD coatings, they do not focus on interdependencies of residual stresses in the substrate and in the coating. In this investigation, three different metallographically prepared substrates were used. SiC grinding, diamond grinding, and SiC grinding and plasma nitriding preparations were selected, due to the substantial differences in their final residual stress states. Additionally, a Ti/TiAlN multilayer coating and a reference TiAlN monolayer were deposited on each pre-treated substrate. Their initial and final residual stress states were measured by means of X-ray diffraction. In addition to the residual stress analyses, tribo-mechanical tests, such as nano-indentation, ball-on-disc, and scratch tests were performed in order to correlate the results with these residual stress states.