磁控溅射微纳米梯度镀层对45钢及40Cr钢弹性变形性能的影响

利用磁控溅射离子镀技术在屈强比不同的45钢及40Cr钢基体上制备Cr、类石墨碳(Graphite-like-carbon,GLC)及CrTiAlN微纳米梯度镀层,通过考察镀层/金属复合体系弹性模量和屈服强度的变化来研究镀层对基体弹性变形行为的影响。研究结果表明:磁控溅射离子镀层可以改善金属基体的弹性变形性能,但镀层对不同金属基体力学参量的影响不同;屈强比低的45钢,镀层可同时提高弹性模量和屈服强度,在v=0.1mm/min的低速拉伸时,45钢试样的屈服强度可提高20%左右;屈强比高的40Cr钢,镀层对其屈服强度基本无影响,但对弹性模量提高的程度更显著,当拉伸速度为0.7mm/min时,40Cr钢试样的弹性模量可提高60%,而45钢仅为22%;镀层/基体复合体系的弹性模量随拉伸速度的增加表现为先增大后减小的特点,其变化规律不同于金属基体;镀层的高硬度和良好的膜基匹配能力有助于阻碍工件表面及亚表面微塑性形变区的扩展,从而提高试样的力学性能。     

Friction and Wear Characteristics of C/Si Bi-layer Coatings Deposited on Silicon Substrate by DC Magnetron Sputtering

The tribological behavior of carbon/silicon bi-layer coatings deposited on a silicon substrate by DC magnetron sputtering was assessed and compared to that of amorphous carbon and silicon coatings. The motivation was to develop a wear resistant coating for silicon using thin layers of amorphous carbon and silicon. Wear tests were conducted by sliding a stainless steel ball against the coating specimens under applied normal loads in the range of 20?~?50?mN. Results showed that the wear rate of the bi-layer coating was strongly dependent on the ratio of thickness between the carbon and silicon layers. The wear rate of the bi-layer coating with 25?nm thick carbon and 102?nm thick silicon layers was about 48 and 20 times lower than that of the single-layer amorphous carbon and amorphous silicon coating, respectively. In addition, the steady-state friction coefficient of the bi-layer coating could be decreased to 0.09 by optimizing the thickness of the layer. Finally, a model for the wear reduction mechanism of the carbon/silicon bi-layer coating was proposed.     

Improving the image of delicate and complex biological surfaces

An initial thermal evaporative coating with Au/Pd protects delicate biological surfaces from thermal damage caused by diode sputtering, allowing additional coating if necessary by the quicker and more complete sputtering method. Additional coating by either method (1) reduces charging and bright areas, (2) improves the physical stability of entire samples and of delicate cell features, and (3) may provide sharper images at high magnification by reducing subtle specimen drift. Most consistent elimination of charging occurred when 10 nm or more of Au/Pd was sputtered on specimens showing charging when previously coated with 30 nm of Au/Pd by thermal evaporation. Aquatic microcommunities, particularly those laden with silt, were characterized by extensive interstitial space so that adequate electrical conductivity required several additional sputter coatings.     

Corrosion-wear behaviour of PVD Cr/CrN multilayer coatings for gear applications

At present, one of the most important problems in automobile engines and transmission components is due to tribological processes (friction and wear) that in many cases come accompanied by corrosion processes due to the environmental conditions to which these materials are exposed during their lifetime. Both mechanisms can be minimized by means of the development and the application of adequate coatings that combine low friction with a high corrosion and wear resistance.The new tendencies in industrial PVD coatings to improve their properties are focused in the development of new multilayer and nanostructured coatings. These structures allow in a relatively simple way enhancing their tribological properties and the corrosion resistance that can not be reached by means of the traditional monolayer coatings. The background of this type of coatings consists of the stacking up of several layers with good individual tribological and mechanical properties, but every individual layer has a thickness that can be from hundreds of nanometres down to only 5-10 nm. The properties of these nanostructured coatings depend strongly on the thickness modulation of every individual layer.Concerning PVD coatings, the chrome nitride coatings have demonstrated to possess excellent wear resistance properties. In this work, multilayer Cr/CrN coatings with different individual layer thickness have been deposited on substrates of steel F1272 and silicon. The deposition has been carried out by means of the cathodic arc method alternating an atmosphere of pure Ar with a reactive mixture of N₂/Ar. The multilayers obtained have been analyzed by means of Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GD-OES) and in some cases by means of FE-SEM obtaining bilayer (Cr/CrN) periods of the order of 220 and 45 nm. The coating characterization has been complemented with hardness and composition measurements as well as by the performance of several wear and corrosion-wear tests.     

Architecture of Multilayer Cr/CrN Coatings for Wear Protection in Seawater: Cr/CrN Ratio and Total Thickness

Cr/CrN multilayer coatings with various Cr/CrN thickness ratios and total thicknesses were deposited on 316L stainless steel by multi-arc ion plating. The coatings were systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and nanoindentation. Tribological behaviors were investigated using a ball-on-disk tribometer in artificial seawater. The results showed that the multilayer coating phases changed from Cr₂N + CrN to Cr + Cr₂N + CrN phases with an increase in Cr/CrN thickness ratio. The adhesion showed a slight difference for the coatings with different thickness ratios but significantly increased with total thickness. The hardness was also slightly improved by thickening the coatings. The friction coefficient and wear rate were lowest at a thickness ratio of about 0.3. However, there was no large difference in the friction coefficient between coatings with different thicknesses. The wear rate was lower for the thicker coatings under various loads. The load-bearing capacity was also improved by thickening the coatings.     

Structure and water-lubricated tribological properties of Cr/a-C coatings with different Cr contents

The Cr containing amorphous carbon coatings (Cr/a-C) with varying Cr content were deposited using unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The results revealed that the chromium carbide nano-clusters were formed when the Cr content exceeded 4.9 at%. The critical load increased while the hardness decreased after the Cr element incorporation. Although the low Cr containing Cr/a-C coatings (≤4.9 at%) exhibited similar friction coefficient with a-C coatings, but the initial friction coefficient, running-in distance and wear rate of SUS440C balls all decreased. However, the Cr/a-C coatings with high Cr content (11.98–14.09 at%) would worsen the tribological properties because chromium carbides acted as abrasive wear particles during tribotests.     

A method for the tribological testing of thin,hard coatings

A new method has been developed for tribological testing of thin, hard antiwear coatings, using a ball‐on‐disc tribosystem, under conditions of dry sliding. In this, an Al₂O₃ ball is pressed against a coated steel disc. Wear debris is removed from the contact zone by a stream of dry argon in this novel method. This improves the stability of the tribological properties and the repeatability of the test results. All test conditions are precisely defined, in particular: the type of motion, air relative humidity, ambient temperature, sliding speed, load, tribosystem spatial configuration, substrate material, substrate hardness and roughness, and coating thickness. The method developed has been used to test various physical vapour deposition coatings (deposited by the vacuum arc method), i. e., single‐layer TiN, Ti(C,N), CrN, and Cr(C,N), and multilayer Cr(C,N)/CrN/Cr and Cr(C,N)/(CrN+Cr₂N)/CrN/Cr. It is shown that CrN coatings exhibit the best antiwear properties, and Ti(C,N) the worst. Friction coefficients for CrN and Cr(C,N) coatings are much lower than for the more commonly used TiN. Multilayer coatings have better antiwear properties than single‐layer ones.     

Advances and problems with TEM characterization of Cr/CrN multilayer coatings

Multilayer Cr/CrN/Cr/Cr(N,C) and Cr/CrN with 8 and 32 layer coatings were deposited on austenite substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The microstructure observations were performed using Philips CM20?, TECNAI G² F20 – TWIN? and JEOL EX4000? transmission microscopes. The performed experiments indicated that lowering the argon flow from 60 to 30 cm³/s during chromium ablation changes buffer layers microstructure from nearly amorphous to nano‐crystalline. The nitride or carbo‐nitride layers turned out to be less sensitive to changes in nitrogen flow during deposition. The columnar microstructure of Cr layers is coarser than those in CrN ones under the same deposition condition. This observation proved also that relying on PLD technique as thin as 30 nm layers might be formed within multilayer Cr/CrN coatings.     

Substrate Effects on the Micro/Nanomechanical Properties of TiN Coatings

Nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests were performed for titanium nitride (TiN) coatings on different tool steel substrates to investigate the indentation/scratch induced deformation behavior of the coatings and the adhesion of the coating–substrate interfaces and their tribological property. In this work, TiN coatings with a thickness of about 500 nm were grown on GT35, 9Cr18 and 40CrNiMo steels using vacuum magnetic-filtering arc plasma deposition. In the nanoindentation tests, the hardness and modulus curves for TiN/GT35 reduced the slowest around the film thickness 500 nm with the increase of indentation depth, followed by TiN/9Cr18 and TiN/40CrNiMo. Improving adhesion properties of coating and substrate can decrease the differences of internal stress field. The scratch tests showed that the scratch response was controlled by plastic deformation in the substrate. The substrate plays an important role in determining the mechanical properties and wear resistance of such coatings. TiN/GT35 exhibited the best load-carrying capacity and scratch/wear resistance. As a consequence, GT35 is the best substrate for TiN coatings of the substrate materials tested.     

Characterization of DC magnetron sputtered diamond-like carbon (DLC) nano coating

Development in vapor deposition techniques over the last two decades has led to the introduction of many advanced coatings for metal-cutting tools. This paper examines the characteristics of multilayer Ti, TiN, and diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings deposited on standard tool substrates at varying sputtering parameters and conditions, such as power density, partial pressure, substrate temperature, and reactive gases. The characteristics of films were examined using an X-ray diffractometer, Raman microscope, surface profilometer (to measure the thickness of the coating), Rockwell hardness tester (to test adhesion), and a micro hardness tester. The pin-on-disc test setup was used to find the coefficient of friction of the coatings. The results indicated that a graded multilayer coating showed better adhesion to the substrates. It was observed that higher target power density resulted in an increase of micro hardness and crystalline planes of coating. Lattice constant matching among layers of coating, proper substrate preparation, and a sequence of cleaning processes are the crucial factors for the enhancement of adhesion strength.     

类镍钽软X射线激光用多层膜反射镜的研制

设计并制备了工作波长为4.48 nm类镍钽软X射线激光用多层膜反射镜。选择C r/C、C r/Sc为多层膜材料对,模拟了多层膜非理想界面对多层膜反射率的影响。采用直流磁控溅射技术在超光滑硅基片上制备了C r/C、C r/Sc多层膜。利用X射线衍射仪测量了多层膜结构,在德国Bessy II同步辐射上测量了多层膜的反射率,C r/C,C r/Sc多层膜峰值反射率分别为7.50%,6.12%。     

Influence of layer thickness on hardness and scratch resistance of Si-DLC/CrN coatings

Abstract

Multifunctional coatings, widely used in tribological applications, have their properties strongly influenced by the interaction of the system coating/substrate. The use of multilayered coatings has been pointed out as a solution for the problem of high internal stresses that can be generated in coated systems, in particular in the case of soft substrates. In multilayered coatings, a decrease in the stress gradient between substrate and coating improves adhesion. Moreover, the thickness of the coating has shown a strong influence on the tribological behaviour of the coated system. This paper, through widely used and efficient techniques, seeks to assess the influence of the thickness of different layers (DLC and CrN) on the response of a multifunctional coating. Si rich DLC and CrN coatings with different thicknesses were deposited on a steel substrate (AISI 1020) by Plasma Enhanced Magnetron Sputtering (PECVD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy (RS) were used in order to characterize the chemical composition and microstructure of the coatings. Instrumented indentation and scratch test techniques were used to measure hardness, elastic modulus, and adhesion of each layer. Critical loads were determined by visual analysis, using SEM in conjunction with the curves obtained in the scratch tests. The evaluation of the effect of the thicknesses of the layers allowed an optimised design of the multifunctional coated systems with improved durability.     

Electron beam lithography-assisted fabrication of Au nano-dot array as a substrate of a correlated AFM and confocal Raman spectroscopy

This paper documents a study of an Au nano-dot array that was fabricated by electron beam lithography on a glass wafer. The patterns that had features of 100nm dots in diameter with a 2-mum pitch comprised a total area of 200x200mum(2). The dot-shaped Cr underlayer was open to the air after developing Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). When dipped into the Cr etchant, the exposed Cr layer was eliminated from the glass wafer in a short period of time. In order to ultimately fabricate the Ti/Au dot arrays, Ti and Au were deposited onto the arrays with a thickness of 2 and 40nm, respectively. The lift-off procedure was carried out in the Cr etchant using sonication in order to completely remove the residual Cr/PMMA layer. The fabricated Au nano-dot array was then immersed in an Ag enhancing solution and then into an ethanol solution containing (N-(6-(Biotinamido)hexyl)-3'-(2'-pyridyldithio)-propionamide (Biotin-HPDP). The substrate was analyzed using a correlated atomic force microscopy (AFM) and confocal Raman spectroscopy. Through this procedure, position-dependent surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) signals could be obtained.     

Development of RF magnetron sputtering method to fabricate PZT thin film actuator

PZT piezoelectric very thin films suitable for a microactuator have been deposited onto Invar alloy substrate using a high-temperature RF magnetron sputtering technique. PZT thin films must be deposited onto conductive substrate for a monomorph or a bimorph actuator. The chemical composition and the crystalline structure of these films were measured by ESCA and XRD, respectively. The chemical composition of PZT deposited stoichiometrically was almost the same as commercially-produced bulk PZT. Crystal planes (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) of PZT perovskite structure were observed in XRD analysis. When the substrate was heated to above 600 °C, SEM revealed only a very small number of pinholes on the surface. A thin (500 nm) film actuator has been characterized by measuring the piezoelectric property using a Laser Doppler Vibrograph. It was confirmed that the piezoelectric property has a linear relationship with the grain size, which also increased with the substrate temperature. The piezoelectric property of deposited PZT thin films showed a good agreement with a quoted value of bulk PZT, when the substrates were heated to 600 °C.     

Structural and mechanical properties of (Cr,Ni) N single and gradient layer coatings deposited on mild steel by magnetron sputtering

Ternary single and gradient layer (Cr, Ni) N thin films were deposited on the mild steel substrate by unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique in order to evaluate mechanical properties for machine tools and automotive applications. Microstructure, chemical composition, surface morphology and phase analysis were carried out using field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. Both single and gradient layer of (Cr, Ni) N coatings show a significant increment in mechanical properties such as hardness, adhesion strength and surface roughness along with the reduction of friction coefficient. Mechanical tests revealed that the hardness of the gradient layer increased up to 3.1 times due to the formation of Cr₂N and Ni phase whereas single layer showed the least friction. Single layer CrNiN layer exhibited 27.2% less surface roughness (R_a) in comparison with gradient layer. High values of surface roughness, hardness, thickness and friction could be correlated with high film-to-substrate adhesion (L_c2) for the gradient layer.     

基体偏压对Cr/DLC薄膜结构及力学性能的影响

采用高功率脉冲磁控溅射方法在不同基体偏压下的钢基体上沉积含Cr过渡层的DLC薄膜.利用原子力显微镜、场发射扫描电镜、Raman光谱、动态超显微硬度计和划痕仪对薄膜的表面形貌、截面形貌、结构成分、力学性能进行表征.结果表明:随着基体偏压的增大,薄膜表面更加平整,表面粗糙度减小;不同基体偏压下制备的DLC薄膜与基体结合良好...     

Mechanical and tribological properties of vapour deposited low friction coatings on Ni plated substrates

Soft steel and aluminium substrates with load-carrying layers of electroplated nickel were coated with commercially available low friction vapour deposited coatings. The mechanical and tribological properties of the coating and substrate composites were evaluated with special emphasis on the influence of the nickel layer. Two different thicknesses of the intermediate load-carrying nickel layer were tested. The samples were evaluated regarding friction and sliding wear, abrasive wear, hardness and elastic modulus, morphology and coating thickness and adhesion between substrate and coating. It was found that all the evaluated low friction coatings were possible to be successfully deposited on the intermediate nickel layer. A relatively thick intermediate nickel layer is a promising candidate for improvement of the load-carrying capacity.     

Influence of Parameters of Reactive Magnetron Sputtering on Tribomechanical Properties of Protective Nanostructured Ti–Al–N Coatings

The influence of substrate temperature and bias voltage on the structure and tribomechanical properties of the Ti–Al–N coatings obtained by reactive magnetron sputtering technique has been investigated. The structure and elemental and phase compositions have been studied by scanning electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering, and X-Ray diffraction. The results of friction and wear experiments indicated that the lowest coefficient of friction (three times lower than 12Cr18Ni10Ti) corresponded to a coating deposited at a bias voltage of–200 V and a substrate temperature of 340°С, while the most wear-resistant coating (under a load of 700 mN and the testing time of 1080 s) was Ti–Al–N sputtered at a bias voltage of–200 V and a substrate temperature of 440°С.     

2m大口径RB-SiC反射镜的磁控溅射改性

为了消除RB-SiC反射镜直接抛光后表面存在的微观缺陷,降低抛光后表面的粗糙度,提高表面质量,针对大口径SiC的特性,选择Si作为改性材料,利用磁控溅射技术对2m量级RB-SiC基底进行了表面改性。在自主研发的Φ3.2m的磁控溅射镀膜机上进行基底镀膜,利用计算机控制光学成型法对SiC基底进行了抛光改性。实验结果表明,改性层厚度达到15μm;在直径2.04m范围内,膜层厚度均匀性优于±2.5%;表面粗糙度由直接抛光的5.64nm(RMS)降低到0.78nm。由此说明磁控溅射技术能够用于大口径RB-SiC基底的表面改性,并且改性后大口径RB-SiC的性能可以满足高质量光学系统的要求。     

Application of cold spraying for flux-free brazing of aluminium alloy 6060

In the present study, samples of aluminium alloy 6060 were coated by cold spraying with a powder of brazing alloy Al12Si. The influence of the process gas temperature on particle velocities and coating build-up was investigated. The coated samples were heat-treated in air and under argon atmosphere to investigate the wetting behaviour of the deposited Al12Si and the diffusion processes between Al12Si coatings and substrates. Coated samples were brazed flux-free under argon atmosphere by an induction heating system. The microstructure of the coated, heat-treated, and brazed samples was investigated. The shear strength of the brazed joints was determined. The results show that the brazing alloy Al12Si could be very well deposited on the substrate by cold spraying. The particle velocity increased with increasing process temperature. Correspondingly, the thickness of Al12Si coatings increased with increasing process temperature. The heat treatments showed that a very good metallurgical bond between the Al12Si coatings and the substrate could be realized by the deposition using cold spraying. The coated samples could be well brazed without fluxes. The coating thickness and overlap width influenced the shear strength of the brazed joints. The highest shear strength of brazed joints amounts to 80 MPa.