Macroscopic Fracture Behaviour of CrN Hard Coatings Evaluated by X-Ray Diffraction Coupled with Four-Point Bending

Fracture behavior of hard nanocrystalline coatings decisively influences the lifetime and performance of coated tools. In this work, residual stresses in as-deposited and annealed CrN coatings deposited at 350 °C using bias voltages of −40 V and −120 V were evaluated using synchrotron X-ray diffraction coupled with four-point bending. The stress development during the bending experiments was used to analyse fracture properties of the coatings. The results indicate that an annealing at 550 °C does not deteriorate the fracture behavior of the coatings prepared using −40 V bias. In the case of −120 V bias coatings, the residual stress relaxation after the thermal treatment is accompanied by a fracture strain decrease and a fracture stress increase. The as-deposited and annealed CrN coatings deposited using −120 V bias exhibit significantly large fracture strains in comparison with −40 V samples. Finally the results document that the fracture stress may not be the only relevant parameter when comparing different coating systems. Also the strain at fracture can be considered as significant indicator of the coating fracture response. Methodologically, the results indicate that in-situ X-ray diffraction coupled with four point bending can be effectively used to evaluate macroscopic fracture behaviour of hard coatings.