Tribological performance of Nb-C thin films prepared by DC and HiPIMS

N. Sala; M. D. Abad; J. C. Sánchez-López; M. Cruz; J. Caro; C. Colominas

doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2020.128334

Tribological performance of Nb-C thin films prepared by DC and HiPIMS

N. Sala
, M. D. Abad^*
, J. C. Sánchez-López
, M. Cruz
, J. Caro
, C. Colominas

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Indexed journal article › Article › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Nanostructured NbC thin films with variable contents of Nb and C were prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering, and for the first time, via high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) searching for an improvement in the tribological properties. X-ray diffraction shows that increasing the carbon incorporation, the crystalline composition evolves from Nb₂C to NbC phase. Further carbon enrichment leads to a nanocomposite structure formed by small NbC crystals (8–14 nm) dispersed in a-C matrix. The friction coefficient varied from high friction (0.8) to low friction (0.25) and the hardness values between 20 and 11 GPa depending on the film composition. A densification of the coatings by changing the methodology from DC to HiPIMS was not observed.

Original language	English
Article number	128334
Number of pages	4
Journal	Materials Letters
Volume	277
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2020.128334
Publication status	Published - 15 Oct 2020

Keywords

Nanocomposites
Physical vapour deposition
Sputtering
Thin films
Wear and tribology

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10.1016/j.matlet.2020.128334

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title = "Tribological performance of Nb-C thin films prepared by DC and HiPIMS",

abstract = "Nanostructured NbC thin films with variable contents of Nb and C were prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering, and for the first time, via high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) searching for an improvement in the tribological properties. X-ray diffraction shows that increasing the carbon incorporation, the crystalline composition evolves from Nb2C to NbC phase. Further carbon enrichment leads to a nanocomposite structure formed by small NbC crystals (8–14 nm) dispersed in a-C matrix. The friction coefficient varied from high friction (0.8) to low friction (0.25) and the hardness values between 20 and 11 GPa depending on the film composition. A densification of the coatings by changing the methodology from DC to HiPIMS was not observed.",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by ¨La Caixa¨ Fundation, “Secretaria d{\textquoteright}Universitats i Recerca (SUR) del Departament d{\textquoteright}Empresa I Coneixement (DEC) de la Generalitat de Catalunya” and “Fons Socials Europeus [2019FI\_B01190]”. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier B.V.",

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AU - Sala, N.

AU - Abad, M. D.

AU - Sánchez-López, J. C.

AU - Cruz, M.

AU - Caro, J.

AU - Colominas, C.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by ¨La Caixa¨ Fundation, “Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca (SUR) del Departament d’Empresa I Coneixement (DEC) de la Generalitat de Catalunya” and “Fons Socials Europeus [2019FI_B01190]”. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2020/10/15

Y1 - 2020/10/15

N2 - Nanostructured NbC thin films with variable contents of Nb and C were prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering, and for the first time, via high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) searching for an improvement in the tribological properties. X-ray diffraction shows that increasing the carbon incorporation, the crystalline composition evolves from Nb2C to NbC phase. Further carbon enrichment leads to a nanocomposite structure formed by small NbC crystals (8–14 nm) dispersed in a-C matrix. The friction coefficient varied from high friction (0.8) to low friction (0.25) and the hardness values between 20 and 11 GPa depending on the film composition. A densification of the coatings by changing the methodology from DC to HiPIMS was not observed.

AB - Nanostructured NbC thin films with variable contents of Nb and C were prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering, and for the first time, via high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) searching for an improvement in the tribological properties. X-ray diffraction shows that increasing the carbon incorporation, the crystalline composition evolves from Nb2C to NbC phase. Further carbon enrichment leads to a nanocomposite structure formed by small NbC crystals (8–14 nm) dispersed in a-C matrix. The friction coefficient varied from high friction (0.8) to low friction (0.25) and the hardness values between 20 and 11 GPa depending on the film composition. A densification of the coatings by changing the methodology from DC to HiPIMS was not observed.

KW - Nanocomposites

KW - Physical vapour deposition

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KW - Thin films

KW - Wear and tribology

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Tribological performance of Nb-C thin films prepared by DC and HiPIMS

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