Highly Oriented Zirconium Nitride and Oxynitride Coatings Deposited via High‐Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Crystal‐Facet‐Driven Corrosion Behavior in Domestic Wastewater
Anna Dettlaff, Mateusz Brodowski, Marcin Kowalski, Vítězslav Straňák, Vadym Prysiazhnyi, Ewa Klugmann-Radziemska, Jacek Ryl, Robert Bogdanowicz
Abstract
Herein, highly crystalline Zr x N y and Zr x N y O z coatings are achieved by the deposition via high‐power impulse magnetron sputtering. Various N 2 and N 2 /O 2 gas mixtures with argon are investigated. The chemical composition and, as a result, mechanical properties of the deposited layer can be tailored along with morphological and crystallographic structural changes. The corrosion resistance behavior is studied by potentiodynamic measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in a sample of synthetic wastewater designed to imitate real‐life domestic wastewater. The corrosion current density of the Zr x N y O z coating is in the range of 33–70 μA cm −2 , whereas for the zirconium nitride layers, values below 1.0 μA cm −2 are achieved. The highest corrosion resistance of 64 nm year −1 is observed for the Zr x N y coating deposited with 1.00% N 2 content in the gas mixture with a corrosion potential of −0.41 V Ag/AgCl.