Effect of silver on the phase transition and wettability of titanium oxide films

The effect of silver on the phase transition and microstructure of titanium oxide films grown by pulsed cathodic arc had been investigated by XRD, SEM and Raman spectroscopy. Following successive thermal annealing up to 1000 °C, microstructural analysis of annealed Ag-TiO2 films reveals that the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles strongly affects the transition temperature from the initial metastable amorphous phase to anatase and stable rutile phase. An increase of silver content into TiO2 matrix inhibits the amorphous to anatase phase transition, raising its temperature boundary and, simultaneously reduces the transition temperature to promote rutile structure at lower value of 600 °C. The results are interpreted in terms of the steric effects produced by agglomeration of Ag atoms into larger clusters following annealing which hinders diffusion of Ti and O ions for anatase formation and constrains the volume available for the anatase lattice, thus disrupting its structure to form rutile phase. The effect of silver on the optical and wetting properties of TiO2 was evaluated to demonstrate its improved photocatalytic performance

MODIFICATION OF SURFACE AND TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF DLC FILMS BY ADDING SILVER CONTENT

The incorporation of silver into the diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings has shown excellent potential in various applications; therefore the surface and tribological properties of silver-containing DLC thin films deserve to be investigated. In this study we have deposited silver-containing hydrogenated and hydrogen-free DLC coatings by plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIII-D) methods. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and nano-scratch tests were used to study the surface and tribological properties. The silver incorporation had only slight effects on hydrogenated DLC coatings. However, the incorporation of silver has significant effect on hydrogen-free DLC of smoothing the surface and increasing the surface energy. Those effects have been illustrated and explained in the context of experimental results

Comparative surface and nano-tribological characteristics of nanocomposite diamond-like carbon thin films doped by silver

In this study we have deposited silver-containing hydrogenated and hydrogen-free diamond-like carbon (DLC) nanocomposite thin films by plasma immersion ion implantation-deposition methods. The surface and nano-tribological characteristics were studied by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and nano-scratching experiments. The silver doping was found to have no measurable effect on sp2-sp3 hybridization of the hydrogenated DLC matrix and only a slight effect on the hydrogen-free DLC matrix. The surface topography was analyzed by surface imaging. High- and low-order roughness determined by AFM characterization was correlated to the DLC growth mechanism and revealed the smoothing effect of silver. The nano-tribological characteristics were explained in terms of friction mechanisms and mechanical properties in correlation to the surface characteristics. It was discovered that the adhesion friction was the dominant friction mechanism; the adhesion force between the scratching tip and DLC surface was decreased by hydrogenation and increased by silver doping

Suppression of molten salt corrosion by plasma sprayed Ni3Al coatings

Corrosion behaviour of stainless steel 347 was investigated in a molten nitrate salt (60 wt% NaNO3 + 40 wt% KNO3) immersion at 565 °C for up to 3000 h. A growth of stratified oxide layers consisting of NaFeO2, Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 was observed on the stainless steel surface with a constant gravimetric corrosion rate of ~ 0.4 µm/year. The feasibility of using Ni3Al coatings deposited by means of air plasma spray for suppression of corrosion was investigated. Ni3Al coatings were observed to undergo a fast oxidation with a corrosion rate of ~ 2.7 µm/year in the first 500 h, and subsequently stabilise between 500 and 3000 h with no observable changes in microstructure, composition and weight at a corrosion rate of ~ 0.02 µm/year. The results presented in this study strongly suggest that Ni3Al coating suppresses the formation of oxide layers on the surface of stainless steel substrates and can be used as protection against corrosion in the presence of molten nitrate salts, which is of relevance to thermal energy storage applications.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant number 645725. Engineering and Physical Research Council grant number EP/L016389/1

DLC and DLC-WS2 coatings for machining of aluminium alloys

Machine-tool life is one limiting factor affecting productivity. The requirement for wear-resistant materials for cutting tools to increase their longevity is therefore critical. Titanium diboride (TiB2) coated cutting tools have been successfully employed for machining of AlSi alloys widely used in the automotive industry. This paper presents a methodological approach to improving the self-lubricating properties within the cutting zone of a tungsten carbide milling insert precoated with TiB2, thereby increasing the operational life of the tool. A unique hybrid Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) system was used in this study, allowing diamond-like carbon (DLC) to be deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) while PVD magnetron sputtering was employed to deposit WS2. A series of ~100-nm monolayer DLC coatings were prepared at a negative bias voltage ranging between −50 and −200 V, along with multilayered DLC-WS2 coatings (total thickness ~500 nm) with varying number of layers (two to 24 in total). The wear rate of the coated milling inserts was investigated by measuring the flank wear during face milling of an Al-10Si. It was ascertained that employing monolayer DLC coating reduced the coated tool wear rate by ~85% compared to a TiB2 benchmark. Combining DLC with WS2 as a multilayered coating further improved tool life. The best tribological properties were found for a two-layer DLC-WS2 coating which decreased wear rate by ~75% compared to TiB2, with a measured coefficient of friction of 0.05

Facilitating TiB2 for filtered vacuum cathodic arc evaporation

TiB2 is well established as a superhard coating with a high melting point and a low coefficient of friction. The brittle nature of borides means they cannot be utilised with arc evaporation, which is commonly used for the synthesis of hard coatings as it provides a high deposition rate, fully ionised plasma and good adhesion. In this work, TiB2 conical cathodes with non-standard sintering additives (carbon and TiSi2) were produced, and the properties of the base material, such as grain structure, hardness, electrical resistivity and composition, were compared to those of monolithic TiB2. The dependence of the produced cathodes’ electrical resistivity on temperature was evaluated in a furnace with an argon atmosphere. Their arc–evaporation suitability was assessed in terms of arc mobility and stability by visual inspection and by measurements of plasma electrical potential. In addition, shaping the cathode into a cone allowed investigation of the influence of an axial magnetic field on the arc spot. The produced cathodes have a bulk hardness of 23–24 GPa. It has been found that adding 1 wt% of C ensured exceptional arc-spot stability and mobility, and requires lower arc current compared to monolithic TiB2. However, poor cathode utilization has been achieved due to the steady generation of cathode flakes. The TiB2 cathode containing 5 wt% of TiSi2 provided the best balance between arc-spot behaviour and cathode utilisation. Preventing cathode overheating has been identified as a main factor to allow high deposition rate (±1.2 µm/h) from TiB2-C and TiB2-TiSi2 cathodes

The role of high-pressure coolant in the wear characteristics of WC-Co tools during the cutting of Ti-6Al-4V

Aeronautic applications have been making use of titanium alloys for decades. Ti–6Al–4V is one of the most commonly applied alloys, and although its mechanical properties warrant its acceptance for many applications, the machinability of this alloy remains a challenge. So far, the most successful technique in facilitating this alloy's machining has been the application of High-Pressure Coolant Supply (HPC) on account of its influence on the tribological aspects of the cutting operation. On that premise, this work employs experimental and computational resources to advance the current understanding of the wear mechanism in terms of the tool-chip contact conditions and establish a correlation between coolant pressure, cutting speed, tool life, cutting forces, and chip formation when machining Ti–6Al–4V with HPC supply. Results showed that HPC plays a role in the reduction of tool-chip temperature profiles and contact stresses, positively impacting tool flank wear, oxidation levels and chip formation, also improving chip breakability

Electronic structure and conductivity of nanocomposite metal (Au,Ag,Cu,Mo)-containing amorphous carbon films

In this work, we study the influence of the incorporation of different metals (Me = Au, Ag, Cu, Mo) on the electronic structure of amorphous carbon (a-C:Me) films. The films were produced at room temperature using a novel pulsed dual-cathode arc deposition technique. Compositional analysis was performed with secondary neutral mass spectroscopy whereas X-ray diffraction was used to identify the formation of metal nanoclusters in the carbon matrix. The metal content incorporated in the nanocomposite films induces a drastic increase in the conductivity, in parallel with a decrease in the band gap corrected from Urbach energy. The electronic structure as a function of the Me content has been monitored by x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) at the C K-edge. XANES showed that the C host matrix has a dominant graphitic character and that it is not affected significantly by the incorporation of metal impurities, except for the case of Mo, where the modifications in the lineshape spectra indicated the formation of a carbide phase. Subtle modifications of the spectral lineshape are discussed in terms of nanocomposite formation

Functionalization of Hydrogen-free Diamond-like Carbon Films using Open-air Dielectric Barrier Discharge Atmospheric Plasma Treatments

A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) technique has been employed to produce uniform atmospheric plasmas of He and N2 gas mixtures in open air in order to functionalize the surface of filtered-arc deposited hydrogen-free diamond-like carbon (DLC) films. XPS measurements were carried out on both untreated and He/N2 DBD plasma treated DLC surfaces. Chemical states of the C 1s and N 1s peaks were collected and used to characterize the surface bonds. Contact angle measurements were also used to record the short- and long-term variations in wettability of treated and untreated DLC. In addition, cell viability tests were performed to determine the influence of various He/N2 atmospheric plasma treatments on the attachment of osteoblast MC3T3 cells. Current evidence shows the feasibility of atmospheric plasmas in producing long-lasting variations in the surface bonding and surface energy of hydrogen-free DLC and consequently the potential for this technique in the functionalization of DLC coated devices

Benchmarking of several material constitutive models for tribology, wear, and other mechanical deformation simulations of Ti6Al4V

Use of an alpha-beta (multiphase HCP-BCC) titanium alloy, Ti6Al4V, is ubiquitous in a wide range of engineering applications. The previous decade of finite element analysis research on various titanium alloys for numerous biomedical applications especially in the field of orthopedics has led to the development of more than half a dozen material constitutive models, with no comparison available between them. Part of this problem stems from the complexity of developing a vectorised user-defined material subroutine (VUMAT) and the different conditions (strain rate, temperature and composition of material) in which these models are experimentally informed. This paper examines the extant literature to review these models and provides quantitative benchmarking against the tabulated material model and a power law model of Ti6Al4V taking the test case of a uniaxial tensile and cutting simulation