Indentation and Imprint Mapping for the Identification of Interface Properties in Film-Substrate Systems

摘要

The life-time of industrial products and the performance of materials for advanced mechanical applications are more and more often enhanced by coatings which, for instance, can act as thermal barriers in turbine engineering, constitute electrical connectors in silicon technology, improve wear and corrosion resistance in a variety of working tools [1]. Thermal, electrical and mechanical characteristics of coatings are of great interest for their application, but a further important macroscopic property to be estimated is adhesion across the interface region, strictly dependent on the deposition technique and on the mechanical/physical properties of the film and of its substrate, see e.g. [2].