Superhard nanocomposite nc-TiC/a-C:H film fabricated by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique

✍ Scribed by Yaohui Wang; Xu Zhang; Xianying Wu; Huixing Zhang; Xiaoji Zhang

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 458 KB
• Volume: 254
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0169-4332
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2008.02.011

✦ Synopsis

Superhard nanocomposite nc-TiC/a-C:H films, with an excellent combination of high elastic recovery, low friction coefficient and good H/E ratio, were prepared by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique using the C 2 H 2 gas as the precursor. The effect of C 2 H 2 flow rate on the microstructure, phase composition, mechanical and tribological properties of nanocomposite nc-TiC/a-C:H films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS), microindentation and tribotester measurements. It was observed that the C 2 H 2 flow rate significantly affected the Ti content and hardness of films. Furthermore, by selecting the proper value for C 2 H 2 flow rate, 20 sccm, one can deposit the nanocomposite film nc-TiC/a-C:H with excellent properties such as superhardness (66.4 GPa), high elastic recovery (83.3%) and high H/E ratio (0.13).