Characteristics of Ni-Ir and Pt-Ir hard coatings surface treated by pulsed Nd:YAG laser

The subjects of the presented paper are to develop a laser surface treatment technology for the protective coatings of glass-molding dies and to better understand the interaction between laser beam and materials coated on the die surface. A variety of alloy films, including Ir-25 at.% Pt, Ir-50 at.% Pt, Ir-75 at.% Pt, Ir-25 at.% Ni, Ir-50 at.% Ni, and Ir-75 at.% Ni compositions are deposited by the ion source assisted magnetron sputtering system (ISAMSS). A Cr layer that functioned as a buffer layer is deposited between the alloy film and die surface. After an alloy film and the buffer Cr layer were sequentially coated on tungsten carbide (WC) surface, Nd:YAG laser was directly applied in the writing process. The temperature profile of the film stack structure is simulated by ANSYS software. The surface roughness was analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to compare the coating surface roughness before and after the laser surface treatments. The treated coatings for oxidation prevention test were examined by energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS). Nanoindentation instrument was performed to evaluate microhardness and reduced modulus of the coatings. The cross-sectional structures between the hard coating layer and buffer layer were also inspected by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The Pt-Ir and Ni-Ir film coatings are unable to withstand the working temperature over 1500 °C, which is considered for quartz molding process and hot embossing process. The films showed high roughness, low microhardness and low reduced modulus because the film oxidation occurred in a high working temperature process.