TRIBOLOGICAL PVD COATINGS - CHARACTERIZATION OF MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES

The need to fully understand the relationships between the intrinsic p roperties of the coating, the properties of the coating composite and the tribological performance of the composite in different tribologica l systems becomes more and more pressing. The current paper is focused on characterisation of coating-intrinsic mechanical properties. It pr esents and discusses the use of several tests designed and developed a t Uppsala University for the explicit purpose of mechanical characteri sation (Young's modulus, residual stress, hardness, and fracture stren gth) of thin, hard coatings and coating composites. Examples in the fo rm of results from characterisation studies of several different PVD c oatings (e.g., TiN, TaN, NbN, and different multilayered combinations thereof) on various high-speed steels, tool steels and cemented carbid e grades are given throughout the paper. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A .