Ebook: Nanostructured Coatings

Controlling the performance of structures and components of all sizes and shapes through the use of engineered coatings has long been a key strategy in materials processing and technological design. The ever-increasing sophistication of en- neered coatings and the rapid trend toward producing increasingly smaller devices with greater demands on their fabrication, properties and performance have led to signi?cant progress in the science and technology of coatings, particularly in the last decade or two. Nanostructured coatings constitute a major area of sci- ti?c exploration and technological pursuit in this development. Withcharacteristic structural length scales on the order of a few nanometers to tens of nanometers, nanostructured coatings provide potential opportunities to enhance dramatically performance by offering, in many situations, extraordinary strength and hardness, unprecedented resistance to damage from tribological contact, and improvements in a number of functional properties. At the same time, there are critical issues and challenges in optimizing these properties with ?aw tolerance, interfacial adhesion and other nonmechanical considerations, depending on the coating systems and applications. Nanostructured coatings demand study in a highly interdisciplinary research arena which encompasses: surface and interface science study of defects modern characterization methodologies cutting-edge experimental developments to deposit,synthesize, conso- date, observe as well as chemically and mechanically probe materials at the atomic and molecular length scales state-of-the-art computational simulation techniques for developing - sightsintomaterialbehaviourattheatomicscalewhichcannotbeobtained in some cases from experiments alone The interdisclipinary nature of the subject has made it a rich playing ?eld for scienti?c innovation and technological progress.

Coating of mechanical components requires materials of exceptional hardness. One way to do this is take advantage of the properties of nanostructured materials. This book delivers practical insight into a broad range of fields related to hard coatings, from their deposition and characterization up to the hardening and deformation mechanisms allowing the interpretation of results. In addition to the above-mentioned hardness, this type of coating typically must meet other stringent criteria for mechanical properties such as excellent adhesion to the substrate and very high fracture toughness and other requirements.

The book examines relationships between structure/microstructure and mechanical properties from fundamental concepts, through types of coatings, to characterization techniques.

The authors address current concern among researchers in this field regarding the development of coatings that can satisfy simultaneously all the necessary properties to guarantee successful implementation in real mechanical applications.