AVS 51st International Symposium
    Advanced Surface Engineering Tuesday Sessions
       Session SE-TuM

Paper SE-TuM10
Growth and Characterization of Zirconium Nitride/Inconel Nanocomposite Structures

Tuesday, November 16, 2004, 11:20 am, Room 303D

Session: Hard and Low Friction Coatings with Advanced Designs
Presenter: S.M. Aouadi, Southern Illinois University
Authors: S.M. Aouadi, Southern Illinois University
M. Debessai, Southern Illinois University
J. Xu, University of Memphis
S.R. Mishra, University of Memphis
D.M. Mihut, University of Nebraska
S.L. Rohde, University of Nebraska
Correspondent: Click to Email
This paper reports on the first study of the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of reactively sputtered zirconium nitride/inconel nanocomposite films as a function of chemical composition, and substrate bias. Several sets of samples were deposited on Si(111) substrates at room temperature with bias voltages in the -45 to -160 V range. The chemical composition was deduced from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence measurements, and was found to be influenced by the sputtering power and substrate bias. The phase composition and the grain size were determined using X-ray diffraction. The grain size was found to decrease with the increase in power to the inconel gun. The optical constants were measured using spectroscopic ellipsometry. A correlation between film structure/composition and optical constants was established. The hardness and elastic modulus of each sample were measured by nanoindentation. The resistance to plastic deformation, as measured by the ratio H3/E2, was optimized (H3/E2=1.0) with a substrate bias of -100 V. Finally, the tribological behavior of these films was studied using a nanowear tester. Nanowear results correlated well with the resistance to plastic deformation deduced from nanoindentation measurements.