Abstract
Aluminum nitride (AlN) has emerged as an important material due to its outstanding properties. Reactive plasma nitriding of Al2O3 powder is suitable for in-situ formation of AlN/Al2O3 coatings. This study investigated the effect of using fine particles and AlN addition on the fabrication process. Thick and uniform AlN/Al2O3 coating with high nitride content and very small amount of alpha-Al2O3 was fabricated. The fine particle size assisted the nitriding conversion (due to increasing the surface area) and AlN additives increased the nitride content in the coating. Furthermore, the nitriding species (N2, H2) hardly affect the phase composition, coating microstructure and hardness.
