Propriedades fisico-químicas, mecânicas e tribológicas de filmes finos de Si3N4 contendo MoS2

Abstract

One of the purposes of surface engineering is to combine physical-chemical, tribological and mechanical properties of materials aiming high hardness, low friction coefficient and high wear resistance, associated with structural features that permit conservation of such properties under different work conditions, by means of the development of coatings and/or thin films. In this work were studied coatings composed of Si3N4 and MoS2 co-deposited on carbon and silicon by means of reactive magnetron sputtering, at a temperature of 150°C with variable contents of MoS2 in the samples of 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.6 at%. Several characterization techniques were used to assess system properties. Samples were also characterized before and after thermal treatment at 400°C for 24h. The films presented compositional ratios of 0.74 for Si/N and 0.5 for Mo/S, that is, stoichiometric composition, besides being amorphous and homogeneous in profile and containing minimal amounts of contaminants. For pure Si3N4 at room temperature a hardness of 17.1 +- 2.8 GPa was obtained, and for the Si3N4 sample with 0.1 at% of MoS2 a hardness of 23,5 +- 2.0 GPa was achieved, representing an increase of 37% in hardness. The thermal treatment process of samples stimulated diffusion of chemical elements of the composed film and can be associated to changes in mechanical and tribological properties observed after such treatment. Samples with MoS2 addition presented decreases up to 55% in the friction coefficient compared to the pure Si3N4 sample.