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A new experimental approach for evaluating the mechanical integrity of interfaces between hard coatings and substrates

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Abstract

We describe a new protocol for testing coating/substrate interfacial failures through compression loading of micro-pillars containing an inclined interface region, experimentally realized in the TiN/Ti/Si(100) system. Interfacial failures were achieved through direct compression loading in the axial direction, which yielded reproducible failure stresses which exhibited little dependence on the pillar diameter. The testing protocol lends itself to high-resolution analysis of failure surfaces, and is conducive to correlating interfacial structure and chemistry with mechanical failures within the coating/substrate interfacial region.

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Acknowledgments

Partial project support from the NSF and LA BoR through grants CMMI-0556100 and CMMI-0900167 and contracts LEQSF(2011-13)-RD-B-03 and LEQSF(2011-13)-RD-B-04 is gratefully acknowledged. Additional support from NSF IIP-1058523 and IIP-1248353 through sub-awards to LSU is further acknowledged. KC and WJM acknowledge instructions from discussion with Dr. Paul Shade with respect to the FIB “lathe” milling program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803, USA

    Ke Chen, Yang Mu & W. J. Meng

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  1. Ke Chen
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  2. Yang Mu
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  3. W. J. Meng
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Correspondence to W. J. Meng.

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Chen, K., Mu, Y. & Meng, W.J. A new experimental approach for evaluating the mechanical integrity of interfaces between hard coatings and substrates. MRS Communications 4, 19–23 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2014.3

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