Effect of pre and post heat treatments on microstructure and adhesion of AlTiN thin films deposited on selective laser melted Ti6Al4V alloy

Fiorese Alessandro - TAV VACUUM FURNACES SPA (Italy)

The goal of the present work is to investigate the effect of the pre and post heat treatments on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V alloy coated with AlTiN thin films.
The samples were first printed by selective laser melting (SLM) and then coated via reactive Physical Vapor Deposition High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (PVD HiPIMS). The samples were heat treated at 700°C, 850°C and 950°C under high vacuum for 1 hour. The structure, the composition and the mechanical features of the realized thin films were investigated by X-ray Diffraction, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy associated to Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), and nanoindentation, respectively. It was found that the realization of the heat treatment before or after the PVD HiPIMS can influence the adhesion of the thin films and the resulting microstructure.

Keywords
Selective laser melting; Ti6Al4V; thin films; vacuum heat treatment; microstructure, High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering, AlTiN.

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