Abstract The effect of two different interlayers on the adherence of DLC coatings to AISI 316 L stainless steel was studied. Titanium‑silicon (TixSi) interlayers and titanium‑silicon plus amorphous hydrogenated silicon (TixSi/a-Si:H) interlayers were deposited. TixSi intermediate layers were grown with three different thicknesses via the RF sputtering technique, while a-Si:H interlayers and DLC coatings were deposited using a DC-PECVD system with an active screen as an additional cathode. The microstructural characterization of the titanium‑silicon interlayer was carried out through the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques, and chemical analysis was done by means of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), while DLC coatings were studied with Raman spectroscopy. The degree of adhesion of the DLC coatings to AISI 316 L stainless steel substrates was analyzed using critical load measurements and a VDI 3198 indentation test. XRD results showed that new crystalline phases were not present in the TixSi interlayer. XPS spectra showed a bond between the Si Fe and the Ti-Fe-O. The adherence results showed that the DLC coatings deposited using TixSi with 200 nm thickness exhibited a critical load value of 5 N, while the coatings with other thicknesses were completely delaminated when the same load was applied. These results suggested that the low adhesion of the DLC coating was due to the oxides formed at the TixSi-DLC interface. For the AISI 316 L/TixSi/a-Si:H/DLC coating, a critical load of 26 N was determined. The formation of titanium silicide, iron silicide, and silicon carbide in the interfaces allowed an increase in the adhesion strength between the interlayers. The Raman results showed that the DLC coatings exhibited good microstructural properties and hydrogen contents around 28 at.%. The DLC coatings also exhibited a hardness of 25 GPa.

中文翻译：

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TixSi 和 TixSi/a-Si:H 中间层对类金刚石碳涂层附着力的影响

摘要 研究了两种不同夹层对 DLC 涂层与 AISI 316 L 不锈钢粘附的影响。沉积钛硅 (TixSi) 夹层和钛硅加非晶氢化硅 (TixSi/a-Si:H) 夹层。TixSi 中间层通过 RF 溅射技术以三种不同的厚度生长，而 a-Si:H 中间层和 DLC 涂层使用 DC-PECVD 系统沉积，有源屏幕作为附加阴极。通过X射线衍射（XRD）和X射线光电子能谱（XPS）技术对钛-硅夹层进行微观结构表征，并通过能量色散X射线光谱（EDS）进行化学分析，而 DLC 涂层是用拉曼光谱研究的。使用临界载荷测量和 VDI 3198 压痕测试分析 DLC 涂层对 AISI 316 L 不锈钢基材的粘附程度。XRD 结果表明 TixSi 夹层中不存在新的结晶相。XPS 光谱显示了 Si Fe 和 Ti-Fe-O 之间的键。附着力结果表明，使用 TixSi 沉积的 200 nm 厚度的 DLC 涂层表现出 5 N 的临界载荷值，而其他厚度的涂层在施加相同载荷时完全分层。这些结果表明 DLC 涂层的低附着力是由于在 TixSi-DLC 界面处形成的氧化物。对于 AISI 316 L/TixSi/a-Si:H/DLC 涂层，确定的临界载荷为 26 N。形成硅化钛、硅化铁、界面中的碳化硅增加了夹层之间的粘合强度。拉曼结果表明，DLC 涂层表现出良好的微观结构特性和大约 28 at.% 的氢含量。DLC 涂层还表现出 25 GPa 的硬度。