Abstract

MARTINEZ-MARTINEZ, D.; LOPEZ-CARTES, C.; SANCHEZ-LOPEZ, J.C.  and  FERNANDEZ, A.. Desarrollo y propiedades de recubrimientos nanocomposities lubricantes. C.Tecn. Mat. [online]. 2006, vol.18, n.1-2, pp.15-20. ISSN 0870-8312.

The development of coatings which combine high hardness and low values of friction and wear is an interesting research area due to the improvement of the performance of many pieces and tools used in industrial processes, such as casting, cutting, etc. In this work we present the results obtained from novel lubricant nanostructured systems formed by nanocrystals of a hard phase (nc-TiC) embedded in a low-friction amorphous matrix (a-C). Synthesis was performed by magnetron sputtering of Ti and C targets. Chemical and miscrostructural characterization were carried out by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Tribological properties were studied at ambient environmental conditions by means of a pin-on-disk tribometer employing steel as counterpart at Hertzian pressures of ~1 GPa. Depending on synthesis conditions, friction (0,1 to 0,4) and hardness (7-27 GPa) values can be achieved at moderate wear rates (k~10^-7 mm³/Nm). The study of the relationship among microstructure, chemical composition and tribo-mechanical properties allows us the optimization of these nanostructured systems to improve the technological applications.

Keywords : Magnetron sputtering; nanocomposite; titanium carbide; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS).

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