Erosion resistance of CVD diamond-coated titanium alloy for aerospace applications

The solid-particle erosion resistance of Ti-6Al-4V can be improved signific antly by applying a chemical-vapor-deposited diamond coating under conditio ns where physical-vapor-deposited coated substrates fail. In particular, di amond coatings grown with relatively high methane concentrations (4-10%) in the process gas atmosphere exhibit superior performance. The reason for th is behavior is a higher in-plane strength of these coatings due to growth d efects like twin formation and secondary nucleation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scie nce S.A. All rights reserved.