Invited Paper SE-TuM7
Effect of Impurities and Deposition Condition on the Mechanical Properties of Superhard Nanocomposites with High Thermal Stability
Nano-Sized and Nano-Structured materials represent the leading edge of the research and technological development in many different areas from inorganic to biological ones. This paper will address the preparation and properties of superhard nanocomposites with a high thermal stability and an unusual combination of mechanical properties which were developed on the basis of our generic design concept that was published in 1995. These superhard nanocomposites were recently introduced into a large-scale industrial production. Because many researchers have recently claimed a lack of reproducibility of our results, the emphasis of my lecture will be on the deposition conditions needed for a reproducible preparation of these nanocomposites. A special attention will be paid to the detrimental role of impurities in these and other nano-structured coatings. It will be shown that minor oxygen impurities of @>=@0.4 at. % are the most probably reason why a number of researcher were unable to reproduce our data.