Hard nanostructured protective coatings with smart stress design

硬质纳米结构防护涂层(HNPC)具有高硬度、高耐磨性、抗划痕性、耐磨性和耐磨损性以及低滑动磨损性等增强的摩擦学性能，并经常与其他功能特性相结合，如耐腐蚀性、高温稳定性、受控导热性、生物兼容性、防污垢行为等。它们是航空航天、汽车、制造、生物医学、林业、能源控制等广泛应用领域的重要组成部分，对世界范围内的经济、环境和能源产生重大影响。然而，由于涂层中的高应力，HNPC的应用往往受到限制。了解应力的来源和控制应力水平对于薄膜和涂层系统在各种应用中的性能和可靠性至关重要。 本次Discovery Grant申请的拟议研究计划旨在利用整体方法进行尖端研究，即通过在基于低压等离子体的PVD和PECVD沉积方法中通过脉冲管理选择性地调节薄膜生长过程中等离子体-表面相互作用的能量来控制硬保护涂层中的应力演变。这将使人们能够在HNPC系统的设计中以智能和可预测的方式实施应力特征，从而显著提高HNPC系统的摩擦机械性能，从而有助于可持续发展。

Hard nanostructured protective coatings, HNPC, provide enhanced tribological properties related to their high hardness, high wear-, scratch-, abrasion- and erosion-resistance, and low sliding wear, frequently combined with other functional characteristics such as corrosion resistance, high temperature stability, controlled thermal conductivity, biocompatibility, antifouling behaviour, and others. They are essential part of a wide range of application areas including aerospace, automobile, manufacturing, biomedical, forestry, energy control and others, and they represent a significant economic, environmental and energy impact worldwide. However, the application of HNPCs is often limited due to high stresses in the coatings. Understanding the origins of stress and controlling the stress level is of key importance for the performance and reliability of thin film and coating systems in various applications. The proposed research program of the present Discovery Grant, application aims at performing cutting-edge studies using a holistic approach, namely to control the stress evolution in hard protective coatings by selectively adjusting the energetics of plasma-surface interactions during the film growth by pulse management in low pressure plasma based techniques PVD and PECVD deposition methods. This will then allow one to implement the stress characteristics, in smart and predictive way in the design of HNPC systems giving rise to their significantly improved tribomechanical performance the HNPC acceptance, and thus contribute to sustainable development.