Structure, mechanical properties and thermal stability of nitrogen-doped TaNbSiZrCr high entropy alloy coatings and their application to glass moulding and micro-drills

TaNbSiZrCr high entropy alloy (HEA) coatings were deposited on WC substrates using a radio frequency (RF) unbalanced magnetron sputtering system. To explore the effects of nitrogen addition on the coating properties, the coatings were deposited with various nitrogen-to-argon ratios RNx (where x = N2/Ar and lies in the range of 0– 0.5). Furthermore, to examine the effects of heat treatment, half of the coatings were retained in an as-deposited...