Oxidation or Nitridation Behavior of Pure Chromium and Chromium Alloys Containing 10 mass%Ni or Fe in Atmospheric Heating
The oxidation or nitridation behavior of pure chromium and chromium alloys containing 10 mass%Ni or 10 mass%Fe in atmospheric heating was investigated in the temperature range of 1073 to 1373 K. The formation behavior of the outer oxide phase of Cr2O3 and its growth kinetics in both chromium alloys was very similar to that of pure chromium. The nitride layer with the Cr2N phase was formed beneath the oxide phase at temperatures above 1273 K in pure chromium. Marked internal nitridation with the formation of the Cr2N phase was observed in the Cr-10 mass%Fe alloy, while the formation of Cr2N was negligible in the Cr-10 mass%Ni alloy. Neither Ni nor Fe were detected inside the Cr2O3 phase, and was enriched in the subsurface layer between the oxide layer and the base alloy in a respective alloy. The Ni-enriched layer in Cr-10 mass%Ni alloy had a relatively narrow width, but a very high concentration of Ni compared with the Fe-enriched layer formed in the Cr-10 mass%Fe alloy. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.47.2540]
High rate deposition of thick CrN and Cr2N coatings using modulated pulse power (MPP) magnetron sputtering
Abstract As a variation of high power pulsed magnetron sputtering technique, modulated pulse power (MPP) magnetron sputtering can achieve a high deposition rate while at the same time achieving a high degree of ionization of the sputtered material with low ion energies. These advantages of the MPP technique can be utilized to obtain dense coatings with a small incorporation of the residual stress and defect density for the thick coating growth. In this study, the MPP technique has been utilized to reactively deposit thick Cr 2 N and CrN coatings (up to 55 μm) on AISI 440C steel and cemented carbide substrates in a closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering system. High deposition rates of 15 and 10 μm per hour have been measured for the Cr 2 N and CrN coating depositions, respectively, using a 3 kW average target power (16.7 W/cm 2 average target power density), a 50 mm substrate to target distance and an Ar/N 2 gas flow ratio of 3:1 and 1:1. The CrN coatings showed a denser microstructure than the Cr 2 N coatings, whereas the Cr 2 N coatings exhibited a smaller grain size and surface roughness than those of the CrN coatings for the same coating thickness. The compressive residual stresses in the CrN and Cr 2 N coatings increased as the coating thickness increased to 30 μm and 20 μm, respectively, but for thicker coatings, the stress gradually decreased as the coating thickness increased. The CrN coatings exhibited an increase in the scratch test critical load as the thickness was increased. Both CrN and Cr 2 N coatings showed a decrease in the hardness and an increase in the sliding coefficient of friction as the coating thickness increased from 2.5 to 55 μm. However, the wear rate of the CrN coatings decreased significantly as the coating thickness was increased to 10 μm or higher. The 10–55 μm CrN coating exhibited low wear rates in the range of 3.5–5 × 10 −7  mm 3  N −1  m −1 . To the contrary, the Cr 2 N coating exhibited relatively low wear resistance in that high wear rates in the range of 3.5 to 7.5 × 10 −6  mm 3  N −1  m −1 were observed for different thicknesses.
An anionic shell shields a cationic core allowing for uptake and release of polyelectrolytes within core-shell responsive microgels.
To realize carriers for drug delivery, cationic containers are required for anionic guests. Nevertheless, the toxicity of cationic carriers limits their practical use. In this study, we investigate a model system of polyampholyte N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM)-based microgels with a cationic core and an anionic shell to study whether the presence of a negative shell allows the cationic core to be shielded while still enabling the uptake and release of the anionic guest polyelectrolytes. These microgels are loaded with polystyrene sulfonate of different molecular weights to investigate the influence of their chain length on the uptake and release process. By means of small-angle neutron scattering, we evaluate the spatial distribution of polystyrene sulfonate within the microgels. The guest molecules are located in different parts of the core-shell microgels depending on their size. By combining these scattering results with UV-vis spectroscopy, electrophoretic mobility and potentiometric titrations we gain complementary results to investigate the uptake and release process of polyelectrolytes in polyampholyte core-shell microgels. Moreover, Brownian molecular dynamic simulations are performed to compare the experimental and theoretical results of this model. Our findings demonstrate that the presence of a shell still enables efficient uptake of guest molecules into the cationic core. These anionic guest molecules can be released through an anionic shell. Furthermore, the presence of a shell enhances the stability of the microgel-polyelectrolyte complexes with respect to the cationic precursor microgel alone.