Discovery of Guinier-Preston zone hardening in refractory nitrides enables deposition of high quality advanced functional coatings at dramatically reduced energy cost

The project addresses the issue of efficient energy and resource consumption in physical vapor deposition (PVD) production of functional coatings for applications as wear protective and friction reducing coatings. This industrial sector is highly relevant for Sweden.

We want to reduce PVD energy consumption by up to 80% by exploiting benefits of metal ion irradiation available thanks to recent technological developments such as high power impulse magnetron sputtering with synchronized substrate bias.

Project capitalizes on recent discovery of Guinier-Preston zone hardening mechanism in transition metal nitrides grown with no external heating, which opens new perspectives for the energy-efficient deposition of advanced ceramics with outstanding mechanical properties and higher operational temperature range for the future demanding applications.

The project is a cooperation between LiU and Seco Tools AB, a leading provider of hard and wear protective coatings on cutting tools.