PLASTIC PROPERTIES OF NANO-SCALE CERAMIC-METAL MULTILAYERS

Nanoscale TiC-metal (Al, Cu, Fe, W) multilayers were prepared by ion b eam sputtering deposition with an intent to study the plastic properti es of the ceramic-metal combinations. The multilayers were designed to have different layer thickness arrangements, including component frac tion, modulation wavelength, etc. Their toughness and hardness were sy stematically investigated as well as the laminated structures. It was found that for most TiC-metal multilayers the toughness was significan tly improved in comparison with monolithic TIC, but the hardness showe d great dependence on the material system. In TiC-Fe and TIC-W systems , the multilayer hardness exhibited a peak value which was even higher than the hardness of TIC. In TiC-Al and TiC-Cu systems, no superhardn ess effect was detected. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.