Laera Anna Maria, Massaro Marcello, Dimaio Domenico, Vencl Aleksandar, Rizzo Antonella
ENEA-Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Brindisi Research Centre, S.S. 7, Km. 706, 72100 Brindisi, Italy.
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Kraljice Marije 16, 11120 Belgrade, Serbia.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Oct 28;14(21):6462. doi: 10.3390/ma14216462.
In the past few decades, ZrN thin films have been identified as wear resistant coatings for tribological applications. The mechanical and tribological properties of ZrN thin layers depend on internal stress induced by the adopted deposition techniques and deposition parameters such as pressure, temperature, and growth rate. In sputtering deposition processes, the selected target voltage waveform and the plasma characteristics also play a crucial influence on physical properties of produced coatings. In present work, ZrN thin films, obtained setting different values of duty cycle in a reactive bipolar pulsed dual magnetron sputtering plant, were investigated to evaluate their residual stress through the substrate curvature method. A considerable progressive increase of residual stress values was measured at decreasing duty cycle, attesting the significant role of voltage waveform in stress development. An evident correlation was also highlighted between the values of the duty cycle and those of wear factor. The performed analysis attested an advantageous effect of internal stress, having the samples with high compressive stress, higher wear resistance. A downward trend for wear rate with the increase of internal residual stress was observed. The choice of suitable values of duty cycle allowed to produce ceramic coatings with improved tribological performance.
在过去几十年里，氮化锆（ZrN）薄膜已被确定为用于摩擦学应用的耐磨涂层。ZrN薄层的机械和摩擦学性能取决于所采用的沉积技术以及诸如压力、温度和生长速率等沉积参数所引起的内应力。在溅射沉积过程中，所选的靶电压波形和等离子体特性也对所制备涂层的物理性能起着至关重要的影响。在本工作中，通过在反应性双极脉冲双磁控溅射设备中设置不同的占空比值来获得ZrN薄膜，并采用衬底曲率法对其残余应力进行研究。在占空比降低时，测量到残余应力值有相当大的逐渐增加，这证明了电压波形在应力发展中的重要作用。占空比值与磨损因子值之间也突出显示出明显的相关性。所进行的分析证明了内应力的有利影响，具有高压缩应力的样品具有更高的耐磨性。观察到磨损率随着内残余应力的增加呈下降趋势。选择合适的占空比值能够制备出具有改善摩擦学性能的陶瓷涂层。
