SIMULATION OF NACRE WITH TIC TEFLON MULTILAYERS AND A STUDY OF THEIR PROPERTIES/

Ion beam sputter deposition was employed to prepare nanoscale multilay ers of TIC and a polymeric material, Teflon. The multilayers were synt hesized to simulate nacre not only on laminated structures but also on individual layer thicknesses. The laminated architecture was studied as well as the structures of individual layers. Multilayer toughness a nd hardness were systematically investigated. It was found that the to ughness of TiC/Teflon multilayers was significantly improved in compar ison with monolithic TiC. But the multilayer hardness experienced a se rious decrease. The individual layer thickness arrangement had an infl uence on both the multilayer hardness and the toughness. (C) 1998 Else vier Science S.A.