Residual stress and elastic anisotropy in the Ti-Al-(Si-)N and Cr-Al-(Si-)N nanocomposites deposited by cathodic arc evaporation
Abstract
The elastic anisotropy of the Cr-Al-(Si-)N and Ti-Al-(Si-)N thin film nanocomposites with different aluminium and silicon contents deposited by the cathodic arc evaporation was investigated using complementary X-ray diffraction methods. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) was employed to get the first information about the anisotropy of the elastic constants.
The measurements done on an X-ray diffractometer equipped with an Eulerian cradle were used for calculation of the lattice strain and residual stress using the Crystallite Group Method and for determination of the preferred orientation of crystallites. In most samples, the degree of the elastic anisotropy decreased with increasing aluminium and silicon contents.
Still, depending on the transition metal (Cr and/or Ti), different dependences of the elastic anisotropy on the aluminium and silicon contents were observed that could be related to the phase stability regions of the cubic phase in thin film nanocomposites.