New Coatings by Nanostructuring

Coatings of nanocomposites or multiphase materials are two approaches to optimizing the wear and corrosion properties of materials. The authors summarize recent research into multiphase coatings, e.g., amorphous nanoscaled multilayer coatings consisting of layers of various types of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H), formed by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition, and into nanocomposite coatings consisting of immiscible phases, e.g., nanocrystals of TiN embedded in amorphous SiNx, formed by a physical vapor deposition method. Both approaches are seen to produce coatings with outstanding wear resistance.