Thin films on PEEK have been designing by magnetron sputtering, using bias voltages ranging from −31 to −157 V. The X-ray diffraction and EDX show how the amorphous films resulting have an elemental composition very close to the stoichiometry TiSi₂. The AFM and SEM performed on top and cross-section, respectively, of film reveal a smooth and uniform surface, free of pores and cracks, and a compact microstructure. The evaluation of the resolved shear stress, yield strength, hardness, scratch resistance, and fracture toughness show how these values increase in the TiSi₂/PEEK system as the bias voltage increase. The development of these hard and tough thin films has enabled the fracture toughness achieved by the TiSi₂/PEEK system increase when a bias voltage equal to or higher than −108 V is used during the deposition process. For these bias conditions, the compressive residual stresses generated are large enough to prevent crack nucleation. The increase of the crack resistance gives as a result that K_I reaches values above 32 MPa*m^1/2. This value is much greater than those values corresponding to the classic ceramic coatings, such as Al₂O₃ (4.6 MPa*m^1/2) and ZrO₂ (7.6 MPa*m^1/2).

PEEK上的薄膜已经通过磁控溅射设计，使用的偏压范围为-31至-157V。X射线衍射和EDX表明，所得非晶膜的元素组成与化学计量的TiSi ₂非常接近。分别在膜的顶部和横截面进行的AFM和SEM显示出光滑，均匀的表面，没有孔和裂纹，并且组织紧凑。解析剪切应力，屈服强度，硬度，耐划伤性和断裂韧性的评估表明，随着偏置电压的增加，这些值在TiSi ₂ / PEEK系统中如何增加。这些坚硬和坚韧的薄膜的发展使TiSi ₂达到了断裂韧性在沉积过程中使用等于或高于-108 V的偏置电压时，/ PEEK系统会增加。对于这些偏置条件，产生的压缩残余应力足够大，可以防止裂纹成核。抗裂性的增加导致K _I达到高于32 MPa * m ^1/2的值。该值远大于对应于经典陶瓷涂层的那些值，例如Al ₂ O ₃（4.6 MPa * m ^1/2）和ZrO ₂（7.6 MPa * m ^1/2）。