Nanocomposite Si-C-N Coatings

Nature has provided a number of materials that go from the softest (talc) to the hardest (diamond) with a large number of materials in between. Coatings of these hard materials have found many technological applications in protection of industrial components and in the field of aerospace. However, novel super hard materials are required for applications in complex operating conditions, which are more stable than the existing ones and possess multifunctional properties. Nanocomposite Si-C-N introduced to the scientific community in 1995, has been found to possess exciting and unique combination of properties, promising for future applications. Although a lot of research has taken place in Si-C-N in bulk form, the possibility of a study involving its properties in the form of coating is still open. In the present book, an attempt has been made to deposit and correlate the structural and mechanical properties obtained for nanocomposite Si-C-N coatings by magnetron sputtering at various deposition conditions, which has shown how to tailor the properties as per the desired performances required in components for different industrial applications.