Review on Metastable Phase Diagrams: Application Roles in Specialty Ceramic Coatings

doi:10.15541/jim20190272

Abstract

Abstract:

Phase diagrams, also known as equilibrium phase diagrams, serve as a road map for materials design. However, preparation process of coatings (such as Physical Vapor Deposition, PVD) is generally far from equilibrium and results in metastable phases. Thus, the CALPHAD (Calculation of Phase Diagrams) approach faces a challenge in calculating the metastable phase diagrams for PVD coating materials. Here we summarized the development of the modeling methodology for the metastable phase diagrams, where the model with critical surface diffusion distance established in recent years were highlighted. The CALPHAD approach, first-principles calculations coupled with high-throughput magnetron sputtering experiments were used to model the atomic surface diffusion, while only one key combinatorial experiment was performed to obtain the basic data for the computation, and the calculated metastable phase diagrams were confirmed by further experiments. Therefore, the database of the stable and metastable phase diagrams can be established, which will be used to guide the design of the ceramic coating materials by the relationship of composition, processing, microstructure, and performance. This model can also help to achieve the goal to shorten the time and reduce the costs of materials research and development.

Key words: metastable phase formation diagram, model, surface diffusion, application, review

CLC Number:

TQ174

HUANG Ye-Yan, XU Kai, WU Bo, LI Peng, CHANG Ke-Ke, HUANG Feng, HUANG Qing. Review on Metastable Phase Diagrams: Application Roles in Specialty Ceramic Coatings[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2020, 35(1): 19-28.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 The phase diagram of TiAlN (a) The stable TiN-AlN pseudo binary phase diagram[61], among which the Al solubilities of fcc phase is negligible; (b) The critical Al solubilities (xmax) in Ti1-xAlxN by different calculation methods compared with the experimental data[35-37, 40-41, 49-52, 61-66]

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of the atomic models in the thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Fig. 3 Structure of the coatings deposited at room temperature compared with the phase diagrams of (a) Al-Cu[59,71], (b) Al-Ni[59,72] and (c) Al-Fe[59,70]

Fig. 4 (a) Diffusion distance versus temperature of Cu-11.5at% Sn obtained by Saunders and Miodownik[60] based on diffusion equation; (b) Diffusion distance versus temperature of Cu-19.5at% Sn[60] obtained by Saunders and Miodownik based on diffusion equation; (c) Phase diagram of the Cu-Sn system[73]

Fig. 5 Flow chart of simulating metastable phase formation diagram of PVD coatings[58]

Fig. 6 (a) Calculated and predicted metastable Cu-W phase formation diagram compared with the experimental data[58]; (b) Calculated and predicted metastable Cu-V phase formation diagram compared with the experimental data[58]; (c) Phase diagram of the Cu-W system[74]; (d) Phase diagram of the Cu-V system[75]

Fig. 7 (a) Phase diagram of the Pt-Ir[86] system; (b) Phase diagram of the Pt-Au system[87]; (c) Phase formation of the Pt-Ir[85] sputtered thin films; (d) Phase formation of the Pt-Au[85] sputtered thin films

Fig. 8 Metastable Ti1-xAlxN phase formation diagrams (a) The predicted diagrams at different power densities; (b) The predicted diagram compared with the experimental data with power density of 2.3 W?cm-2 at 100-550 ℃; (c) The predicted diagram compared with the experimental data with power density of 4.6 W?cm-2 at 100-550 ℃; (d) The predicted diagram compared with the experimental data with power density of 6.8 W?cm-2 at 100-550 ℃

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