TY - JOUR

T1 - Revealing dynamic-mechanical properties of precipitates in a nanostructured thin film using micromechanical spectroscopy

AU - Alfreider, Markus

AU - Meindlhumer, Michael

AU - Ziegelwanger, Tobias

AU - Daniel, Rostislav

AU - Keckes, Jozef

AU - Kiener, Daniel

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Nanostructured materials with their remarkable properties are key enablers in many modern applications. For example, industrial dry-milling processes would not be as widely spread without the use of hard, wear-resistant metal nitride coatings to protect the cutting tools. However, improving these nanostructured thin films with regard to dynamical properties is demanding as probing respective parameters of (sub-)micron layers without any substrate influence is still challenging. To extend the scientific toolbox for such spatially confined systems, a novel methodological approach based on resonance peak measurements of a cantilever-transducer system termed micromechanical spectroscopy (µMS) is developed and applied to a Al0.8Cr0.2N model system. The mainly wurtzite type supersaturated Al0.8Cr0.2N system showed precipitation of cubic CrN at grain boundaries and local Cr variations upon annealing at 1050°C. This was accompanied by an increase in the previously unknown damping capability of 63 percent and an increase in Young’s modulus by 36 percent.

AB - Nanostructured materials with their remarkable properties are key enablers in many modern applications. For example, industrial dry-milling processes would not be as widely spread without the use of hard, wear-resistant metal nitride coatings to protect the cutting tools. However, improving these nanostructured thin films with regard to dynamical properties is demanding as probing respective parameters of (sub-)micron layers without any substrate influence is still challenging. To extend the scientific toolbox for such spatially confined systems, a novel methodological approach based on resonance peak measurements of a cantilever-transducer system termed micromechanical spectroscopy (µMS) is developed and applied to a Al0.8Cr0.2N model system. The mainly wurtzite type supersaturated Al0.8Cr0.2N system showed precipitation of cubic CrN at grain boundaries and local Cr variations upon annealing at 1050°C. This was accompanied by an increase in the previously unknown damping capability of 63 percent and an increase in Young’s modulus by 36 percent.

KW - AlCrN

KW - Dynamic testing

KW - Grain-boundary segregation engineering

KW - Heat treatment

KW - Micromechanical testing

KW - Precipitation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163147678&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1557/s43577-023-00549-w

DO - 10.1557/s43577-023-00549-w

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85163147678

VL - 2024

SP - 49

EP - 58

JO - MRS Bulletin

JF - MRS Bulletin

SN - 0883-7694

IS - 49

ER -