Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:22:09.796Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Substrate-independent stress–strain behavior of diamond-like carbon thin films by nanoindentation with a spherical tip

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2018

Naoki Fujisawa ,
Teng Fei Zhang ,
Oi Lun Li  and
Kwang Ho Kim
Naoki Fujisawa
Affiliation:
National Core Research Center for Hybrid Materials Solution, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
Teng Fei Zhang
Affiliation:
National Core Research Center for Hybrid Materials Solution, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea; and Global Frontier R&D Center for Hybrid Interface Materials, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
Oi Lun Li
Affiliation:
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
Kwang Ho Kim*
Affiliation:
Global Frontier R&D Center for Hybrid Interface Materials, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea; and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A method for extracting the substrate-independent stress–strain curves of thin films was developed using spherical nanoindentation to investigate the yield behavior of diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films with Young’s moduli of ∼73 GPa and ∼76 GPa. The resulting stress–strain curves showed that these films commence yielding at ∼13 GPa and ∼14 GPa, respectively. These yield strength values agree with the critical pressure necessary to initiate the transformation of sp2-bonded carbon into significantly harder sp3-bonded carbon, indicating that the yielding of the materials is associated with the sp2-to-sp3 phase transition. The ability of a DLC film to accommodate a progressively increasing contact stress with strain beyond the yield point while dissipating part of the accumulated strain energy, as evidenced in this work, implies a unique mechanism of the brittle material for passively mitigating contact deformation and fracture in tribological applications.

Keywords

stress/strain relationshipthin filmnanoindentation
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 33 , Issue 6 , 28 March 2018 , pp. 699 - 708
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Grill, A.: Diamond-like carbon: State of the art. Diam. Relat. Mater. 8, 428 (1999).Google Scholar
Erdemir, A. and Donnet, C.: Tribology of diamond-like carbon films: Recent progress and future prospects. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 39, R311 (2006).Google Scholar
Fujisawa, N., McKenzie, D.R., James, N.L., Woodard, J.C., and Swain, M.V.: Combined influences of mechanical properties and surface roughness on the tribological properties of amorphous carbon coatings. Wear 260, 62 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pathak, S. and Kalidindi, S.R.: Spherical nanoindentation stress-strain curves. Mater. Sci. Eng. R Rep. 91, 1 (2015).Google Scholar
Schwan, J., Ulrich, S., Roth, H., Ehrhardt, H., Silva, S.R.P., Robertson, J., Samlenski, R., and Brenn, R.: Tetrahedral amorphous carbon films prepared by magnetron sputtering and dc ion plating. J. Appl. Phys. 79, 1416 (1996).Google Scholar
Schwan, J., Ulrich, S., Theel, T., Roth, H., Ehrhardt, H., Becker, P., and Silva, S.R.P.: Stress-induced formation of high-density amorphous carbon thin films. J. Appl. Phys. 82, 6024 (1997).Google Scholar
Lu, W. and Komvopoulos, K.: Effect of stress-induced phase transformation on nanomechanical properties of sputtered amorphous carbon films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 2437 (2003).Google Scholar
Liu, C., Lin, Y., Zhou, Z., and Li, K.Y.: Dual phase amorphous carbon ceramic achieves theoretical strength limit and large plasticity. Carbon 122, 276 (2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabor, D.: The Hardness of Metals (Clarendon Press, Oxford, U.K., 1951).Google Scholar
Field, J.S. and Swain, M.V.: A simple predictive model for spherical indentation. J. Mater. Res. 8, 297 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalidindi, S.R. and Pathak, S.: Determination of the effective zero-point and the extraction of spherical nanoindentation stress-strain curves. Acta Mater. 56, 3523 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hertz, H.: Miscellaneous Papers, Jones, D.E. and Schott, G.A. eds. (Macmillan, London, U.K., 1896); pp. 146–183.Google Scholar
Oliver, W.C. and Pharr, G.M.: Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology. J. Mater. Res. 19, 3 (2004).Google Scholar
Fischer-Cripps, A.C.: Nanoindentation, 3rd ed. (Springer, New York, NY, 2011); pp. 8–10, 24, 43–46, 150–152.Google Scholar
Hay, J. and Crawford, B.: Measuring substrate-independent modulus of thin films. J. Mater. Res. 26, 727 (2011).Google Scholar
Gao, H., Chiu, C.H., and Lee, J.: Elastic contact versus indentation modeling of multi-layered materials. Int. J. Solid Struct. 29, 2471 (1992).Google Scholar
Song, H.: Selected mechanical problems in load and depth sensing indentation testing. Ph.D. thesis, Rice University, Houston, TX, 1999, pp. 51–72.Google Scholar
Lenardi, C., Baker, M.A., Briois, V., Nobili, L., Piseri, P., and Gissler, W.: Properties of amorphous a-CH(:N) films synthesized by direct ion beam deposition and plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition. Diam. Relat. Mater. 8, 595 (1999).Google Scholar
Fujisawa, N., Zhang, T.F., Lee, B.H., and Kim, K.H.: A robust method for extracting the mechanical properties of thin films with rough surfaces by nanoindentation. J. Mater. Res. 23, 3777 (2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, S.J., Lee, K.R., Eun, K.Y., Hahn, J.H., and Ko, D.H.: Determination of elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of diamond-like carbon films. Thin Solid Films 341, 207 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saha, R. and Nix, W.D.: Effects of the substrate on the determination of thin film mechanical properties by nanoindentation. Acta Mater. 50, 23 (2002).Google Scholar
Stoney, G.G.: The tension of metallic films deposited by electrolysis. Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 82, 172 (1909).Google Scholar
Zhou, K., Ke, P., Li, X., Zou, Y., and Wang, A.: Microstructure and electrochemical properties of nitrogen-doped DLC films deposited by PECVD technique. Appl. Surf. Sci. 329, 281 (2015).Google Scholar
Qiang, L., Zhang, B., Zhou, Y., and Zhang, J.: Improving the internal stress and wear resistance of DLC film by low content Ti doping. Solid State Sci. 20, 17 (2013).Google Scholar
Swadener, J.G., Taljat, B., and Pharr, G.M.: Measurement of residual stress by load and depth sensing indentation with spherical indenters. J. Mater. Res. 16, 2091 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, J.Z., Merkle, L.D., Menoni, C.S., and Spain, I.L.: Crystal data for high-pressure phases of silicon. Phys. Rev. B 34, 4679 (1986).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leyland, A. and Matthrew, A.: On the significance of the H/E ratio in wear control: A nanocomposite coating approach to optimised tribological behavior. Wear 246, 1 (2000).Google Scholar
Sakai, M.: Energy principle of the indentation-induced inelastic surface deformation and hardness of brittle materials. Acta Metall. Mater. 41, 1751 (1993).Google Scholar
Johnson, K.L.: The correlation of indentation experiments. J. Mech. Phys. Solid. 18, 115 (1970).Google Scholar
Atkins, A.G. and Tabor, D.: Plastic indentation in metals with cones. J. Mech. Phys. Solid. 13, 149 (1965).Google Scholar
Mesarovic, S.D. and Fleck, N.A.: Spherical indentation of elastic-plastic solids. Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 455, 2707 (1999).Google Scholar
Park, Y.J. and Pharr, G.M.: Nanoindentation with spherical indenters: Finite element studies of deformation in the elastic-plastic transition regime. Thin Solid Films 447–448, 246 (2004).Google Scholar
Meade, C. and Jeanloz, R.: Frequency-dependent equation of state of fused silica to 10 GPa. Phys. Rev. B 35, 236 (1987).Google Scholar
Bundy, F.P., Bassett, W.A., Weathers, M.S., Hemley, R.J., Mao, H.U., and Goncharov, A.F.: The pressure-temperature phase and transformation diagram for carbon; updated through 1994. Carbon 34, 141 (1996).Google Scholar
Guo, W., Zhu, C.Z., Yu, T.X., Woo, C.H., Zhang, B., and Dai, Y.T.: Formation of sp 3 bonding in nanoindented carbon nanotubes and graphite. Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 245502 (2004).Google Scholar