Enhanced Surface Mechanical and Tribological Properties of H13 Die Steel with TiAlSiN Coating Deposited by HiPIMS

Abstract TiAlSiN is a potential protection coating for die steel to improve the surface hardness, anti-wear performance and suitability. In the present study, TiAlSiN is deposited on H13 die steel by high power impulse magnetron sputtering and the effects of bias voltage, deposition temperature, and film thickness on the performance of coatings are studied. The microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of coatings are analyzed by energy dispersive spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, nanoindentation, friction and wear tests. The results show that with the changes of sputtering parameters, the content of Ti, Al, Si, and N fluctuates slightly. With the increase of bias voltage, deposition temperature and film thickness, the diffraction peaks of Ti3Al2N2 phase become wider. Higher bias voltage, deposition temperature, and film thickness are beneficial for obtaining coatings with high hardness, and strong wear resistance. By observing the surface morphology of coatings after grinding with Si3N4 balls, it was found that the wear mechanism of coatings contains abrasive wear, fatigue wear, and oxidative wear.