Low temperature pulsed laser deposition of titanium carbide on bearing steels

This study focuses on the room temperature pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of titanium carbide (TiC), as a wear-resistant coating on 52100 and 440C bearing steels. The TiC films have been characterized using a variety of analytical techniques. Atomic force and scanning electron microscopy have revealed the deposition of extremely smooth TiC films, having very high uniformity over large areas. Selected area electron diffraction in transmission electron microscopy has shown an excellent correlation between the observed lattice spacings in the deposited films and the reported literature values of TiC. The crystallite size of these films has been established by dark held transmission electron microscopy. The chemical composition and mechanical properties of these films were also investigated. Room-temperature PLD has been successful in depositing high-quality TiC films on bearing steel components, thus avoiding numerous problems that arise during conventional high-temperature deposition of such coatings on steels. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.