Vanadium carbide/titanium carbide （VC/TiC） superlattice films were synthesized by magnetron sputtering method. The effects of modulation period on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties were investigated by EDXA, XRD, HRTEM and nano-indentation. The results reveal that the VC/TiC superlattice films form an epitaxial structure when their modulation period is less than a critical value, accompanied with a remarkable increase in hardness. Further increasing the modulation period, the hardness of superlattices decreases slowly to the rule-of-mixture value due to the destruction of epitaxial structures. The XRD results reveal that three-directional strains are generated in superlattices when the epitaxial structure is formed, which may change the modulus of constituent layers. This may explain the remarkable hardness enhancement of VC/TiC superlattices.
采用反应磁控溅射制备了Ti Al N/VN纳米多层膜,并使用X射线衍射分析(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、纳米压痕仪和多功能摩擦磨损试验机对多层膜的微结构与力学和摩擦学性能进行了表征和分析。研究结果表明:不同调制周期的Ti Al N/VN多层膜均呈典型的柱状晶生长结构,插入VN层并没有打断Ti Al N涂层柱状晶的生长。在一定调制周期下,Ti Al N/VN纳米多层膜中的Ti Al N和VN层之间能够形成共格生长结构,其硬度和弹性模量相比于Ti Al N单层膜均有显著提升,其中,Ti Al N(10 nm)/VN(10 nm)的硬度和弹性模量最大增量分别达到39.3%和40.9%。Ti Al N/VN纳米多层膜的强化主要与其共格界面生长结构有关。另外,Ti Al N单层膜的摩擦系数较高(~0.9),通过周期性地插入摩擦系数较低的VN层能够使得Ti Al N的摩擦系数大大降低,Ti Al N/VN纳米多层膜的摩擦系数最低为0.4。
