Abstract
Next generation of advanced hard coatings for tribological applications should combine the advantages of hard wear resistant coatings with low-friction films. In this study, the tribological behaviour of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) single-layer as well as VN–V2O5 bi-layer coatings was investigated in the temperature ranging between 25 and 600 °C. For VN–V2O5 bi-layer coatings, the V2O5 top-layers were deposited by dc and bipolar-pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtering, where the V2O5 phase shows preferred growth orientation in (200) and (110), respectively. The V2O5 single-layer coatings were prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering with a substrate bias of −80 V which leads to a preferred (200) growth orientation. Tribological properties were evaluated using a ball-on-disc configuration in ambient air with alumina balls as counterpart. The structure of the as-deposited films and eventual changes after tribometer testing were identified using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The friction coefficient of VN–V2O5 bi-layer coatings deposited in dc and pulsed dc mode decreases from room temperature to 600 °C, where the pulsed dc VN–V2O5 coatings have a significantly lower coefficient of friction over the whole testing temperatures reaching a value of 0.28 at 600 °C. Up to 400 °C, V2O5 single-layer coatings showed almost the same coefficient of friction as pulsed dc VN–V2O5 bi-layer coatings but reached a value of 0.15 at 600 °C. It seems that thermal activation of crystallographic slip systems is necessary for V2O5 films to show a low-friction effect.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Erdemir, A.: A crystal-chemical approach to lubrication by solid oxides. Trib. Lett. 8, 97–102 (2000)
Greenwood, O.D., Moulzolf, S.C., Blau, P.J., Lad, R.J.: The influence of microstructure on tribological properties of WO3 thin films. Wear 232, 84–90 (1999)
Gardos, M.N.: Magnéli phases of anion-deficient rutile as lubricious oxides. Part I. Tribological behaviour of single-crystal and polycrystalline rutile (TinO2n-1). Trib. Lett. 8, 65–78 (2000)
Lugscheider, E., Knotek, O., Bärwulf, S., Bobzin, K.: Characteristic curves of voltage and current, phase generation and properties of tungsten- and vanadium-oxides deposited by reactive d.c.-MSIP-PVD-process for self-lubricating applications. Surf. Coat. Technol. 142–144, 137–142 (2001)
Lugscheider, E., Knotek, O., Bobzin, K., Bärwulf, S.: Tribological properties, phase generation and high temperature phase stability of tungsten- and vanadium-oxides deposited by reactive MSIP-PVD process for innovative lubrication applications. Surf. Coat. Technol. 133–134, 362–368 (2000)
Gassner, G., Mayrhofer, P.H., Kutschej, K., Mitterer, C., Kathrein, M.: A new low friction concept for high temperatures: Lubricious oxide formation on sputtered VN coatings. Tribol. Lett. 17(4), 751–756 (2004)
Franz, R., Neidhardt, J., Sartory, B., Kaindl, R., Tessadri, R., Polcik, P., Derflinger, V.H., Mitterer, C.: High-temperature low-friction properties of vanadium-alloyed AlCrN coatings. Tribol. Lett. 23(2), 101–107 (2006)
Fateh, N., Fontalvo, G.A., Gassner, G., Mitterer, C.: Influence of high-temperature oxide formation on the tribological behaviour of TiN and VN coatings. Wear 262, 1152–1158 (2007)
Fateh, N., Fontalvo, G.A., Gassner, G., Mitterer, C.: The beneficial effect of high-temperature oxidation on the tribological behaviour of V and VN coatings. Tribol. Lett. 28, 1–7 (2007)
Fateh, N., Fontalvo, G.A., Cha, L., Klünsner, T., Hlawacek, G., Teichert, C., Mitterer, C.: Synthesis-structure relations for reactive magnetron sputtered V2O5 films. Surf. Coat. Technol. 202, 1551–1555 (2008)
Fateh, N., Fontalvo, G.A., Mitterer, C.: Structural and mechanical properties of dc and pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtered V2O5 films. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 40, 7716–7719 (2007)
Ramana, C.V., Hussain, O.M., Srinivasulu Naidu, B., Reddy, P.J.: Spectroscopic characterization of electron-beam evaporated V2O5 thin films. Thin Solid Films 305, 219–226 (1997)
Julien, C., Guesdon, J.P., Gorenstein, A., Khelfa, A., Ivanov, I.: The influence of substrate material on the growth of V2O5 flash-evaporated films. Appl. Surf. Sci. 90, 389–391 (1995)
Gies, A., Pecquenard, B., Benayad, A., Martinez, H., Gobeau, D., Fuess, H., Levasseur, A.: Effect of total gas and oxygen partial pressure during deposition on the properties of sputtered V2O5 thin films. Solid State Ionics 176, 1627–1634 (2005)
Lee, S.H., Cheong, H.M., Seong, M.J., Liu, P., Tracy, C.E., Mascarenhas, A., Pitts, J.R., Deb, S.K.: Raman spectroscopic studies of amorphous vanadium oxide thin films. Solid State Ionics 165, 111–116 (2003)
Meng, L.J., Silva, R.A., Cui, H.N., Teixeira, V., dos Santos, M.P., Xu, Z.: Optical and structural properties of vanadium pentoxide films prepared by d.c. reactive magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 515, 195–200 (2006)
Lim, S.P., Long, J.D., Xu, S., Ostrikov, K.: Nanocrystalline vanadium oxide films synthesized by plasma-assisted reactive rf sputtering deposition. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 40, 1085–1090 (2007)
Fang, G.J., Liu, Z.L., Wang, Y., Liu, Y.H., Yao, K.L.: Synthesis and structural, electrochromic characterization of pulsed laser deposited vanadium oxide thin films. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 19, 887–892 (2001)
Gulbińnki, W., Suszko, T., Sienicki, W., Warcholiński, B.: Tribological properties of silver-and copper-doped transition metal oxide coatings. Wear 254, 129–135 (2003)
De Keijser, T.H., Langford, J.I., Mittemeijer, E.J., Vogels, A.B.P.: Use of the Voigt function in a single-line method for the analysis of X-ray diffraction line broadening. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 15, 308–314 (1982)
Petrov, I., Barna, P.B., Hultman, L., Greene, J.E.: Microstructural evolution during film growth. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 21, 117–128 (2003)
Berthier, Y., Godet, M., Brendle, M.: Velocity accommodation in friction. Tribol. Trans. 32, 490–496 (1989)
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Austrian NANO Initiative via a grant from the Austrian Science Fund FWF within the project “LowFrictionCoatings”. The assistance of Daniel Kiener for SEM investigations is kindly appreciated.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fateh, N., Fontalvo, G.A. & Mitterer, C. Tribological Properties of Reactive Magnetron Sputtered V2O5 and VN–V2O5 Coatings. Tribol Lett 30, 21–26 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-008-9307-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-008-9307-4