Nanocomposite TiC/a-C:H film prepared on titanium aluminium alloy substrates by PSII assistant MW-ECRCVD

Thin films of titanium carbide and amorphous hydrogenated carbon have been synthesized on titanium aluminium alloy substrates by PSII assisted MW-ECRCVD with a mirror field. The microstructure, chemical composition and mechanical property were investigated. Using XPS and TEM, the films were identified to be a-C:H film containing TiC nanometre grains (namely, the so-called nanocomposite structure). The size of TiC grains of nanocomposite TiC/DLC film is about 5 nm. The nanocomposite structure has obvious improvement in the mechanical properties of DLC film. The hardness of a-C:H film with Ti is enhanced to 34 G Pa, while that of a-C:H film without Ti is about 12 G Pa, and the coherent strength is also obviously enhanced at the critical load of about 35N.