Influence of composition and structural properties in the tribological behaviour of magnetron sputtered Ti–Si–C nanostructured thin films, prepared at low temperature
✍ Scribed by D. Munteanu; C. Ionescu; C. Olteanu; A. Munteanu; F. Davin; L. Cunha; C. Moura; F. Vaz
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 636 KB
- Volume
- 268
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0043-1648
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✦ Synopsis
Within the frame of this work, low temperature Ti-Si-C films were deposited on high-speed steel and stainless steel substrates by combined dc/rf magnetron co-sputtering. Composition analysis revealed the existence of two distinct regions: (i) a silicon doped sub-stoichiometric titanium carbide zone and (ii) a titanium rich zone. Structural analysis confirmed the different nature of the prepared films within each of the two zones. The residual stress states ( r ) were relatively low, and the hardness values ranged between 11 and 27 GPa, with a dependence on the composition as well as on the structural features. The tribological results showed quite similar trends, with both friction coefficients and wear revealing a straight correlation with the composition, and consequently, the different structural arrangements. In general terms, the obtained results showed that the friction coefficient of the samples tended to decrease with increasing C C /C Si atomic ratio, indicating an improvement in tribological behaviour for the samples with the highest carbon contents. In terms of wear resistance, the films with a stoichiometry very close to TiC, Si doped sub-stoichiometric titanium carbide films, presented the best behaviours, revealing that a compromise between the best friction and wear, must be made in order to select the optimum coating.