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

Ion beam assisted deposition of tribological coatings

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6738172

Hardness and ductility of TiN deposited by IBAD can be controlled by varying the process parameters. Research is directed toward establishing the optimum conditions for depositing films with improved tribological properties and characterizing the properties. During this period, microhardness and tribological properties were examined as a function of additional processing parameters. These were arrival ratio of nitrogen gas molecules to titanium atoms (R[sub ga]) and arrival ratio of argon ions to nitrogen gas molecules (R[sub ig]). For hard TiN films it was found that the hardness is considerably reduced if R[sub ga] exceeds a value of 5, a result that was hypothesized to be due to trapping of excess nitrogen at grain boundaries. It was also determined that hardness increases with increasing values of R[sub ig]. Friction coefficients were in general relatively high for all TiN films except for the softest films which had [mu] = 0.25. Film lifetime measurements as determined on a tribotester indicated that the intermediate hardness films were the most wear resistant. SEM and EDXA analyses of the wear debris formed during dry sliding on TiN films of various hardnesses were performed. Diamondlike carbon films formed by IBAD had very low friction and long lifetimes in dry sliding tests. The ultra-high-vacuum IBAD chamber was modified to provide for more accurate measurements of film thickness and a more rapid turnaround for sample exchange.

Research Organization:
Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AI02-88CE90024
OSTI ID:
6738172
Report Number(s):
DOE/CE/90024-4; ON: DE93011523
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English