Effect of mass transfer and segregation on the formation of superhard nanostructured Ti-Hf-N(Fe) catings

Superhard nanostructured Ti-Hf-N(Fe) coatings are prepared. The formation of local regions of (Ti, Hf)N, FeN, and Hf is detected using $\mu$-PIXE (ion microbeam). It is revealed that the synthesized coatings have a nanohardness of 48 $\pm$ 1 GPa and are composed of nanograins with a size of 4.8–10.6 nm, which are enveloped by finer entities of other phases (Ti, Fe)N and FeN. There is a good correlation between the results derived by XRD, TEM, AFM, and SEM and microanalysis, which in turn are complemented by the analysis results obtained using an ion microbeam and PIXE.