Phase Composition, Structure and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Coatings Doped by Carbide-Forming Metals

The regularities of the influence of the nature of carbide-forming metals (titanium, chromium) used as alloying elements, the substrate material, on the phase composition, the structure of carbon coatings deposited from the impulse cathode plasma are determined. It is shown that alloyed coatings are an amorphous matrix in which metal-containing clusters with a size of 40–90 nm are formed. The introduction of chromium into the carbon matrix leads to the increase in the content of carbon atoms in the sp3 state, alloying the same coating with titanium causes the decrease in the number of atoms with sp3 hybridization, the increase in the size and order of Csp2 clusters. Microhardness, elasticity modulus, internal mechanical stresses, tribotechnical properties of chromium and titanium-alloyed carbon coating deposited from impulse cathode plasma on various substrates are determined. It has been established that metal alloying of carbon coatings leads to the decrease in the level of internal stresses by 1.2–3.2 times, especially when deposited on a sublayer of chromium.