Synthesis and characterization of novel nanoengineered superhard coatings

与其他物体运动接触的部件容易磨损。磨损是限制各种部件（如工具、机器部件和生物医学植入物）使用寿命的主要失效机制。全球每年因磨损造成的损失估计为3000亿美元。提高耐磨性是提高各种部件耐久性和成本效益的关键。表面涂层是降低部件磨损、延长部件使用寿命的重要技术。该研究计划的长期目标是开发技术和设计方法，在纳米尺度上设计技术重要材料的表面涂层，以实现先进加工和生物医学应用所需的性能（例如高耐磨性和出色的生物相容性）。在本研究计划的过程中，将朝着长期目标取得进展，重点发展纳米级金刚石基超硬涂层的技术和设计方法，以解决金刚石涂层在机械和生物医学工程中耐磨应用的重要挑战。该研究有望使最佳耐磨材料纳米结构金刚石涂层在钢铁、聚合物和玻璃等各种技术重要材料上大大提高其耐磨性。研究成果将在会议上发表并发表在期刊上，从而转移到行业中，从而引领工具，机器零件和生物医学植入物的发展。反过来，这将提高制造效率，改善生活质量。另一方面，该研究将有助于更好地理解与纳米结构材料有关的基本科学问题，并将为设计和开发性能大大改善的新型纳米结构材料提供新技术。

Components in moving contact with other bodies are subject to wear. Wear is the major failure mechanism limiting the lifetime of various components such as tools, machine parts, and biomedical implants. The world-wide cost due to wear is estimated to be $300 billion per year. Increasing wear resistance is the key to improving the durability and cost effectiveness of various components. Surface coating is an important technology for reducing wear and extending performance of components. The long-term goal of the research program is to develop technologies and design methods to engineer surface coatings at the nanometer scale on technologically important materials to achieve desired properties (e.g. high wear resistance and excellent biocompatibility) for advanced machining and biomedical applications. During the course of this research proposal, progress will made towards long-term goal by focusing on the development of technologies and design methods to construct diamond-based superhard coatings at the nanometer scale to address the important challengs of using diamond coatings for wear resistant applications in mechanical and biomedical engineering. The research is expected to enable the coating of nanostructured diamond, the best wear resistant material, on various technologically important materials such as steels, polymers and glass to greatly increase their wear resistance. The research outcomes will be presented in conferences and published in Journals, and thus transferred to the industry, leading the development of much improved tools, machine parts, and biomedical implants. This will, in turn, increase manufacturing efficiency and improve the quality of life. On the other hand, the research will lead to a better understanding of the basic scientific issues related to the nanostructured materials and will enable new technologies for the design and development of novel nanostructured materials with greatly improved properties.