The NanoTest indentation module is used to determine the hardness and modulus of hard antiwear coatings, and the scratch (scratch and wear test) module assesses their tribological performance.

Hard coatings are often applied to components that experience dynamic loading during service such as cutting tools. The NanoTest impact testing module is used to optimize the fatigue performance of PVD coatings.

Characterization of the impact properties of thin films of diamond-like-carbon (DLC) Thin films are often highly stressed so that they can be very hard. These stresses can lead to poor fatigue performance under dynamic loading conditions (e.g. impact and fatigue wear). It is important to improve the impact performance of DLC and other thin films, and the NanoTest impact results are very sensitive to small changes in deposition conditions.

Application Notes

Material Behaviour under Repetitive Contact

Micro impact testing of thin films

Scratch Testing of DLC and Silicon

DLC Film thickness

Indentations in TiN

Substrate Bias Effects on Plasma CVD Films

Testing TiN coating quality

Adhesion of DLC films to Silicon

Depth Profiling of Hardness and Modulus (TiN)

Mechanical Properties of Ion-implanted Metals

High Temperature NanoTest Measurements