ABSTRACT
Magnetron sputtered hard nanostructured TiAlN has gained high importance in the field of protective tribological coatings. Nevertheless, its use regarding high-temperature (≥800°C) applications such as dry highspeed machining still remains a challenge. There are several strategies, which have been used to improve these coatings in terms of higher oxidation resistance, higher fracture toughness, or better tribological behavior at high temperatures. 124Most significant among them are adjustment of process parameters during deposition and addition of new elements. Specially, addition of elements such as Si, C, V, Cr, Ta, or Y has shown a significant beneficial impact on these properties. Addition of new element also leads to development of TiAlN-based hard nanocomposite coatings. For a better performance of these coatings, an in-depth understanding of their structure and their correlation to oxidation and wear mechanisms over a wider range of temperatures is needed. This chapter focuses on elaborating the significance of these strategies, which would aid in further development of these coatings keeping magnetron sputtering as a technique of choice for their deposition.
