Mechanical behaviour of W-S-N and W-S-C sputtered coatings deposited with a Ti interlayer

In this research work, W-S films doped with increasing contents of nitrogen and carbon were studied. The films were deposited with a Ti interlayer to promote the adhesion to the substrate. For low N or C contents the film presents the WS2 phase, whereas for higher content they are amorphous. Doping W-S films with N or C leads to significant improvements in the hardness (from 0.6 to 6 GPa). C-containing W-S films had better tribological behaviour than N-doped ones. In relation to undoped W-S films, more than one order of magnitude reduction in the wear coefficients was reached for W-S-C films, particularly for higher applied loads in the sliding contact (10 N). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.