The study of island carbon coating on nitrogen-activated polyurethane surface

Abstract

Application of stiff carbon-like coatings to improve the properties of elastic polymers is limited. Deformation of the polymer damages the coated surface. The creating of discontinuous coatings could be a good solution in this case. In this paper, the formation of carbon island coating on the surface of an elastic polyurethane is studied. The discontinuous layer is obtained on the nitrogen-activated polymer surface by the magnetron sputtering of the graphite target. Depending on the number of pulses of the sputtering (1500 or 2000), carbon islands (∼70 μm wide and 25 or 46 nm thick) are formed on the surface. Some islands have a wrinkled surface and are characterized by the spectrum of amplitudes and wavelengths which reach maximum at the center of the island. Small number of pulses leads to the formation of more heterogeneous coating with pronounced wrinkles, further sputtering reduces surface heterogeneities.