New Trends in Decorative Coatings 2 $ ? 6 ?
ecorative coatings applied with D . . sputter ion plating processes have become a widely accepted application for vacuum technology. Although the deposition itself is only one important step among others, indusmal decorative applications require a reproducible and productive coating system. Leybold, as a system manufacturer, is featuring machines with a high level of up-time as well as an extraordinary sales service. In addition, such equipment is able to control all manufacturing steps including the choice of substrate material, the proper machining of it, the advisable heat treatment, the correct surface machining, the appropriate electroplating and the right precleaning. All these factors have an important influence, since a successful product does not depend solely on film properties. All system features required in the performance portfolio need to be fulfilled. In some circumstances, features required for a satisfactory coating can only be determined in extensive field tests.
Decorative properties and chemical composition of hard coatings
Transition metal compounds (nitrides, carbides, etc.) find increasing use as decorative coatings combining intensive colours, high wear resistance and good corrosion resistance. While golden TiN and dark-grey TiC are limited in their colour variation, the addition of a second metal or a second metalloid widens the spectrum of decorative colours, e.g. to dark blue with (Ti, Al)N. In the search for new colours, a number of nitrides of binary IVa metal-based alloys were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The correlation between colour and stoichiometry was determined by surface analytical methods. Proper selection of the process parameters (target composition, N2 flow rate, etc.) results in coatings with different colours exceeding the conventional spectrum of decorative coatings.
SR topography of plastically deformed Fe-Si bicrystals - observation in situ and post mortem
SR reflection topography was applied to study the interaction of slip dislocations with the grain boundaries in Fe-4at%Si bicrystals deformed by compression. Three experimental settings with either a white or monochromatic beam were used and the corresponding orientation contrast analysed. Dislocation transmission through the grain boundary was observed in bicrystals with favourable geometry of the slip systems.