A comparative study of the structural, mechanical and tribological characteristics of TiSiC-Cr coatings prepared in CH4 and C2H2 reactive atmosphere by cathodic vacuum arc

dc.contributor.authorBraic, Mariana
dc.contributor.authorVladescu, Alina
dc.contributor.authorBalaceanu, Mihai
dc.contributor.authorLuculescu, Catalin
dc.contributor.authorPadmanabhan, Sibu C.
dc.contributor.authorConstantin, Lidia
dc.contributor.authorMorris, Michael A.
dc.contributor.authorBraic, V.
dc.contributor.authorGrigorescu, Cristiana E. A.
dc.contributor.authorIonescu, Paul
dc.contributor.authorDracea, Maria Diana
dc.contributor.authorLogofatu, Constantin
dc.contributor.funderEnterprise Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderAutoritatea Natională pentru Cercetare Stiintificăen
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-10T16:49:05Z
dc.date.available2017-01-10T16:49:05Z
dc.date.issued2017-12-21
dc.date.updated2017-01-10T16:36:41Z
dc.description.abstractTiSiC-Cr coatings, with Cr and Si as additional elements, were deposited on Si, C 45 and 316 L steel substrates via cathodic arc evaporation. Two series of coatings with thicknesses in the range of 3.6–3.9 μm were produced, using either CH4 or C2H2 as carbon containing gas. For each series, different coatings were prepared by varying the carbon rich gas flow rate between 90 and 130 sccm, while maintaining constant cathode currents (110 and 100 A at TiSi and Cr cathodes, respectively), substrate bias (–200 V) and substrate temperature (∼320 °C). The coatings were analyzed for their mechanical characteristics (hardness, adhesion) and tribological performance (friction, wear), along with their elemental and phase composition, chemical bonds, crystalline structure and cross-sectional morphology. The coatings were found to be formed with nano-scale composite structures consisting of carbide crystallites (grain size of 3.1–8.2 nm) and amorphous hydrogenated carbon. The experimental results showed significant differences between the two coating series, where the films formed from C2H2 exhibited markedly superior characteristics in terms of microstructure, morphology, hardness, friction behaviour and wear resistance. For the coatings prepared using CH4, the measured values of crystallite size, hardness, friction coefficient and wear rate were in the ranges of 7.2–8.2 nm, 26–30 GPa, 0.3–0.4 and 2.1–4.8 × 10−6 mm3 N−1 m−1, respectively, while for the coatings grown in C2H2, the values of these characteristics were found to be in the ranges of 3.1–3.7 nm, 41–45 GPa, 0.1–0.2 and 1.4–3.0 × 10−6 mm3 N−1 m−1, respectively. Among the investigated coatings, the one produced using C2H2 at the highest flow rate (130 sccm) exhibited the highest hardness (45.1 GPa), the lowest friction coefficient (0.10) and the best wear resistance (wear rate of 1.4 × 10−6 mm3 N−1 m−1).en
dc.description.sponsorshipAutoritatea Natională pentru Cercetare Stiintifică, Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research (Grant CNCS – UEFISCDI; projects no. PN-II-PT-PCCA-2011-3.2-1453 and no. PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-1016); Enterprise Ireland (CF/2014/4370); Science Foundation Ireland (AMBER Research Centre (12/RC/2278))en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationBraic, M., Vladescu, A., Balaceanu, M., Luculescu, C., Padmanabhan, S. C., Constantin, L., Morris, M. A., Braic, V., Ana Grigorescu, C. E., Ionescu, P., Dracea, M. D. and Logofatu, C. (2017) 'A comparative study of the structural, mechanical and tribological characteristics of TiSiC-Cr coatings prepared in CH4 and C2H2 reactive atmosphere by cathodic vacuum arc', Applied Surface Science, 400, pp. 318-328. doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.12.160en
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.12.160
dc.identifier.endpage328en
dc.identifier.issn0169-4332
dc.identifier.journaltitleApplied Surface Scienceen
dc.identifier.startpage318en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/3460
dc.identifier.volume400en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevieren
dc.rights© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectTiSiC-Cr coatingsen
dc.subjectCathodic arcen
dc.subjectStructureen
dc.subjectMechanical propertiesen
dc.subjectFriction and wearen
dc.titleA comparative study of the structural, mechanical and tribological characteristics of TiSiC-Cr coatings prepared in CH4 and C2H2 reactive atmosphere by cathodic vacuum arcen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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