Micro-scale tribological study of a Ni-Cr-Fe-Ti-Al-V high entropy alloy thin film by magnetron co-sputtering of Inconel-718 and Ti-6Al-4V

In this study, we fabricated high entropy alloy (HEA) thin films by RF magnetron co-sputtering of Inconel 718 and Ti-6Al-4V targets. Their coefficient of friction (CoF) and specific wear rate (K0) were investigated to evaluate their potential as a material for MEMS moving parts. By placing different number of Ti-6Al-4V pellets (samples abbreviated as IT2, IT4, IT6) on an Inconel 718 target (abbreviated as IT0), Ni-Cr-Fe-Ti-Al-V HEA thin films with configurational entropy of mixing (Delta Sconf) >1.5R were successfully deposited. Electron microscopy and diffraction confirms that IT0 possessed a mixed nanocrysalline/amorphous structure, while the Ti-added IT2, IT4 and IT6 films were amorphous. They also have a significantly reduced root-mean-square roughness. In order to evaluate their micro-scale wear behavior, various tribological studies including indentation, scratch test and scanning wear test were conducted. From IT0 to IT6, film hardness H increases while reduced modulus Er re-mains similar. Plastic criterion Rw is also reduced, showing that the films IT2, IT4 and IT6 are more prone to elastic deformation. Scratch test also reveals that IT6 can afford the highest normal load before the transition of wear mode occurs. Lastly, a scanning wear test was conducted to evaluate the specific wear rate (K0) of each HEA film. It was found that IT6 had the lowest value of K0 = 2.26 x 10-4 mm3 N-1 m- 1, which was also a lot lower than Si-to-Si (K0 = 0.0183 mm3 N-1 m- 1) wear in other studies. The excellence of IT6 can be attributed to the fact that alloying of Ti effectively reduced the average interatomic distance in the HEA films, resulting in a densely packed, very elastic microstructure. Therefore, IT6 is expected to have longer service life than silicon if it were made into MEMS moving parts.

Automated summary

High entropy alloy (HEA) thin films were successfully fabricated using RF magnetron co-sputtering, and the addition of titanium in the IT6 sample resulted in the lowest specific wear rate (K0). This indicates that IT6 may have a longer service life if used in MEMS moving parts.