Nanostructured protective coating systems prepared by pulsed plasma techniques

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The rapid progress in science and technology requires a constant search for new coating materials and surface engineering processes that provide an ever increasing performance. Within this research program, the applicant proposes to perform cutting-edge studies on new, low pressure, high density pulsed plasma (HDPP) processes that will be used for the fabrication of structurally-controlled hard, new-generation protective coatings (NGPC) with tailored mechanical, elasto-plastic and thermal properties and enhanced wear-, erosion- and corrosion resistance and other characteristics suitable for different advanced applications including components of aircraft and helicopters, automobile engines, medical instruments and others. Specifically, the HDPP approach, and particularly its variants High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) and Pulsed Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (P-PECVD), is seen as a unique possibility of controlling the films' microstructural features on nanometer scale. This will allow one to selectively adjust the hardness and the Young's modulus of the materials, and hence obtain films with substantially enhanced toughness, tribological performance and other multifunctional properties. Such nanostructured (nanocomposite) films will be integrated in complex coating architectures that meet specific demanding application requirements, thus leading to a possibly significant technological and economic impact.