Nanoindentation technique for measuring nanohardness, Young's modul of thin film with nitrogen implantation

Abstract

Thin films are playing important role for industrial applications. A duplex surface treatment involves the sequential application of two surface technologies to produce a surface composition with combined properties. A typical duplex process involves plasma nitriding and the coating treatment of steels. In this paper subsequent ion implantation was provided with N5+ ions. The plasma ion implantation was applied to enhace the mechanical properties of surface. The form most often used is known as the Oliver and Pharr method. In this paper Indentation was performed with CSM Nanohardness Tester. The results are analyzed in terms of load-displacement curves, hardness, Young's modulus, unloading stiffness and elastic recovery. The nanohardness of coating measured by Berkovich indenter is about 42.4 GPa. A variety of analytic techniques were used for characterization, such as scratch test, calo test, SEM, AFM, XRD and EDAX. Therefore, by properly selecting the processing parameters, well-adherent TiN films with high hardness can be obtained on engineering steel substrates.