Depth profile analyses of nc-TiC/a-C:H coating prepared by balanced magnetron sputtering

0362870 - ÚFM 2012 RIV CH eng J - Journal Article
Vašina, P. - Souček, P. - Schmidtová, T. - Eliáš, M. - Buršíková, V. - Jílek, M. - Jílek Jr., M. - Schäfer, C. - Buršík, Jiří
Depth profile analyses of nc-TiC/a-C:H coating prepared by balanced magnetron sputtering.
Surface and Coatings Technology. Roč. 205, Suppl. 2 (2011), S53-S56. ISSN 0257-8972
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20410507
Keywords : composite * mechanical properties * magnetron
Subject RIV: BL - Plasma and Gas Discharge Physics
Impact factor: 1.867, year: 2011

Nanocrystalline titanium carbide embedded in an hydrogenated amorphous carbon matrix (nc-TiC/a-C:H)shows high hardness and Young’s modulus together with low friction coefficient. In this paper, we report on the preparation of well adherent (nc-TiC/a-C:H)coatings - 5mm thick on stainless steel substrates using a well balanced magnetic field configuration and only very low power RF bias on the substrate. Hardness and Young’s modulus of this coatings are 43 Gpa and 380 Gpa, respectively. The mechanical properties – hardness and Young’s modulus – measured from the coatings top reach the values obtained at optimized experiments where the unbalanced magnetic field configuration was used. A simple method of depth profiling suitable for evaluation of mechanical properties of several micrometers thick coatings is developed and employed. The paper reports on the depth profile analyses of the coating hardness, Young’s modulus, composition and morphology.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0199051