Super-hard coatings deposited under conditions of the dynamic shock wave and measurement features of control parameters during production

Abstract

Abstract Super-hard coatings are of increasing scientific interest as they allow synthesizing materials with unique physical and chemical properties for further application in the industry at high-speed processing or tooling. This study is aimed to investigate tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films, as well as the dependence of the pulsation parameters on the irradiation parameters and the potential of such pulsations to be further applied in practice. The article shows that ta-C films are completely amorphous and have up to 85% of sp3 bonds. Deposited films are characterized by high compression stresses ranging within 8-10 GPa. The possibilities of reducing these stresses by thermal and pulsed laser annealing have been examined. The formation of ripples in super-hard ta-C films were studied by applying femtosecond laser pulses with a wavelength of 775 nm, an average wavelength of 387 nm, and the pulse duration of 150 fs. Obtained results demonstrated that the orientation of the pulsations on smooth surfaces is perpendicular to the vector of the electric field of the linearly polarized laser beam. Besides, the period of pulsation reduces with decreasing the laser wavelength and/or increasing the angle of laser beam incidence on the substrate.