The effect of different annealing temperatures on the mechanical and tribological properties of the Ti2AlN MAX phase films.

Ti₂AlN MAX phase films produced at different N₂ flow rates and different annealing temperatures were deposited on 52100 steel substrates using the closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique. N₂ flow rates were changed to 2, 3.5, and 5 sccm. Due to the increasing N₂ flow rate, film thickness decreased from 2 to 1.3 µm. Then the produced films were subjected to annealing at temperatures of 700, 750, and 800°C. After the film produced at a flow rate of 2 sccm was annealed at 750°C, the presence of the Ti₂AlN MAX phase was determined. The binding energies of Ti 2p, Al 2p, and N 1s determined in the XPS analysis confirmed the existence of the Ti₂AlN film. The friction coefficient measured for Ti₂AlN MAX phase films was calculated as 0.53, the hardness value as 22.8 GPa, the elastic modulus as 291.4 GPa, and the wear rate as 2.96 × 10⁻⁴ mm³/(N·m). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]