Very Hard Titanium Carbosilicide Coatings to Protect Parts of Energy Machines

Abstract

This paper discusses a method for synthesizing very hard vacuum carbon-based coatings applied by plasma ion-assisted deposition. It describes graphite-silicon cathodes used to create a solid titanium carbosilicide-based coating. Such cathodes are analyzed herein in terms of their phase composition. The research team has developed a new technology that uses a graphite cathode to apply very hard coatings; the steps are as follows: prepare the substrate, bombard the surface with an ion flux, preheat the surface after treating it with metal plasma, apply the titanium carbon-based coating using two electric-arc spraying guns, and then apply an ion flux to fix the obtained coating. The research team also tested the adhesion and the microhardness of the synthesized single-layer, multilayer, and nanostructured coatings. The paper presents microhardness values for a variety of coatings, as well as surface layer quality assessment results.