Stoichiometric composition of thin-film surface structures and its influence on the functional characteristics as regards gyroscopic devices

Abstract

This article considers the research results of the effect of stoichiometry on the properties of titanium nitride thin-film coatings of the float and electrostatic gyroscopes. It presents the results of tests of such mechanical and optical characteristics of titanium nitride thin-film structures as microhardness, resistance to wear and friction, and image contrast determined by the reflection coefficients of a titanium nitride base surface and a raster pattern formed by local laser oxidation. When making a rotor of a cryogenic gyroscope, the prospects of use and technological methods for the formation of functional surface structures of niobium carbide and nitride are considered. It is shown that during the formation of coatings of the required composition, the most important is the thermodynamic estimation of possible interactions. These interactions allow us to accomplish the structural-phase modification of the material, which is determined by the complex of possible topochemical reactions leading to the formation of compounds, including non-stoichiometric composition.