A.S. Rudenkov – Ph.D (Eng.), Leading Research Scientist, 

Francisk Skorina Gomel State University (Republic of Belarus)

A.V. Rogachev – Dr.Sc. (Chem.), Professor, Head of Department, 

Francisk Skorina Gomel State University (Republic of Belarus)

S.M. Zavadski – Ph.D (Eng.), Head of Department, 

Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (Minsk, Republic of Belarus)

D.A. Golosov – Ph.D. (Eng.), Leading Research Scientist, 

Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (Minsk, Republic of Belarus)

P.A. Lychnikov – Research Scientist, MIREA ‒ Russian Technological University (Moscow)

It was found that the introduction of nitrogen into the composition of the working gas (Ar57% + N43%) during the formation of silicon-carbon coatings by ion sputtering of silicon carbide, in addition to the formation of silicon nitride, compounds of the CNx and SixOyNz type, contributes to an increase in the content of sp2-hybridized carbon atoms by 1.25 times and silicon carbide is almost 2 times, and also prevents the oxidation of silicon and increases the thermal stability of tribological properties. The total surface energy after annealing in air, both in the case of nitrided and non-nitrided coatings, increases due to an increase in the polar component, which is caused by the sp3 → sp2 phase transition, as well as the formation of strongly polar bonds. The microhardness of nitrided silicon-carbon coatings is 2.7 GPa lower than that of nonnitrided ones, which is most likely caused by a higher content of sp2-hybridized carbon atoms.

High-temperature annealing of both non-nitrided and nitrided silicon-carbon coatings leads to an increase in the content of the graphite phase and silicon oxide. It was shown that with increasing annealing temperature to 700 ° C, a decrease in the fraction of the integral area of N-Si and N-Csp3 components of N1s of the XPS peak is observed with a simultaneous increase in the fraction of the integral area of the component, which correlates simultaneously with N-Csp2 and Si-ON . This increase is explained primarily by the annealing of the sp3 → sp2 phase transitions, since the increase in the fraction of the integral area Csp2 of the C1s peak component is more significant than the change in the fraction of the integral area ofthe Si-O-N component of the Si2p peak.The coefficient of friction of nitrided silicon-carbon coatings and the coefficient of volumetric wear of the counterbody when interacting with such coatings increase with increasing annealing temperature. In the case of non-nitrided silicon-carbon, the opposite tendency is observed, which is explained by the finer structure of nitrided coatings and the abrasive action of solid interstitial phases based on CNx and Si3N4, which are present in their composition. Coatings can be used for hardening the surface of a specialized tool operating at high temperatures (up to 700 oC), for example, injection molding machines, as well as the surface of metal processing tools.

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