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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Status of plasma physics techniques for the deposition of tribological coatings

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6309045
The plasma physics deposition techniques of sputtering and ion-plating are reviewed. Their characteristics and potentials are discussed in terms of synthesis or deposition of tribological coatings. Since the glow discharge or plasma generated in the conventional sputtering and ion-plating techniques has a low ionization efficiency, rapid advances have been made in equipment design to further increase the ionization efficiency. The enhanced ionization favorably affects the nucleation and growth sequence of the coating. This leads to improved adherence and coherence, higher density, favorable morphological growth, and reduced internal stresses in the coatings. As a result, desirable coating characteristics can be precision tailored. Tribological coating characteristics of sputtered solid film lubricants such as MoS2, ion-plated soft gold and lead metallic films, and sputtered and ion-plated wear-resistant refractory compound films such as nitrides and carbides are discussed.
Research Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH (USA). Lewis Research Center
OSTI ID:
6309045
Report Number(s):
N-84-25058
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English