SPUTTERED DECORATIVE HARD COATINGS WITHIN THE SYSTEM LAB6-ZRB2

Decorative coatings have to meet a variety of requirements such as att ractive colour as well as high wear and corrosion resistance. Within t his work, coatings were deposited onto steel and molybdenum substrates by non-reactive magnetron sputtering using various targets within the quasi-binary eutectic section LaB6-ZrB2 with the goal to improve the mechanical properties of violet coloured LaB6-based coatings. Coating characterization was done using scanning electron microscopy, electron -probe microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, Vickers microhardness measure ments and CIE-La*b* colorimetry. For sputtering from both compounds o f the section LaB6-ZrB2, violet and silver-grey crystalline films with high hardness values were respectively obtained. For the ZrB2 target contents investigated within the two-phase region of the equilibrium d iagram (25, 55, and 75 at.% ZrB2), coatings showed a pronounced tenden cy to form partially or fully amorphous structures. These structures w ere accompanied by low hardness values and a silver-grey appearance. A lthough being unsuccessful with optimization of both mechanical and op tical properties of ZrB2-alloyed LaB6-based coatings, complex hard coa tings have a substantial development potential in various application fields.