Abstract
Nanoindentation experiments were carried out on a columnar ~1.5-μm-thick TiN film on steel using a conical indenter with a 5-μm tip radius. Microstructural examination of the contact zone indicates that after initial elastic deformation, the deformation mechanism of the TiN is dominated by shear fracture at inter-columnar graun boundaries of the TiN film. A simple model is proposed whereby the applied load is partitioned between a deforming TiN annulus and a central expanding cavity in the steel substrate. It is possible to obtaun a good fit to the experimental load–displacement curves with only one adjustable parameter, namely the inter-columnar shear fracture stress of the TiN film. The implication of results in the context of the performance of TiN films in service is also discussed.
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Bhowmick, S., Xie, ZH., Hoffman, M. et al. Nature of contact deformation of TiN films on steel. Journal of Materials Research 19, 2616–2624 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2004.0339
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2004.0339