Effect of operating conditions on thin layers of titanium posed on steel 100C6 substrates with PVD method

Abstract

We proposed to prepare hard coatings based on titanium carbides by deposition of thin layers of pure Ti by sputtering method on steel substrates 100C6 of 1 %mass carbon. The samples were annealed under vacuum in the temperature range of 400 ° C to 1000 ° C, in order to activate the reaction between the two parts of the system which results the formation of carbides of Ti due to the diffusion of carbon from the substrate towards deposited  layers. We therefore note an improvement in mechanical properties such as hardness. To demonstrate the effect of deposition parameters, we have prepared two series, the first one with a high pressure of argon and remarkable energy of extracted atoms, and in the case of the second one the pressure and kinetic energy are relatively less important. The samples of series 2 show features more important: a compact structure and good mechanical properties. The reaction between thin films and substrates is studied by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The measurements of microhardness were performed with the Vickers method.

Keywords: Diffusion, reaction, carbides, microhardness