1997 TMS Annual Meeting: Monday Session

ADVANCES IN COATINGS TECHNOLOGIES II: Session I

Session Chairperson: J.K. Hirvonen, Metals Research Branch, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, AMSRL-WM-ME, APG, MD 21005-5069

THE DARPA PROGRAM IN ADVANCED THIN FILM COATING TECHNOLOGY: Lawrence H. Dubois, Thomas J. Moran, Defense Sciences Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, VA

Corrosion and wear of mechanical and structural components and systems cost U.S. Industry and the military millions of dollars every year and leads to excess waste, decreased product reliability, and poor worker safety. Unfortunately, the surface preparation, application and use of most coatings to protect to protect these components leads to the generation of significant quantities of hazardous wastes which are subsequently released to the air, water and land. Through the development of new, more advanced corrosion and wear resistant coating systems and/or surface preparation techniques, the DoD and its suppliers can not only minimize the environmental impact of these materials, but improve performance and decrease costs. The DARPA program in advanced thin film coatings is developing innovative technologies to eliminate volatile organic compounds, heavy metals and other hazardous waste materials in the manufacture, application and maintenance of high performance wear, fatigue and corrosion resistant coatings of utility to the DoD.

9:10 am

ADVANCES IN SURFACE TECHNOLOGY IN RUSSIA: Anthony J. Perry, ISM Technologies, San Diego, CA; Jesse N. Matossian, Hughes Research Labs, Malibu, CA; Michael O. Thompson, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Since the removal of the Berlin Wall and the changes in the relationships between the former Soviet Union with the rest of the world, a great deal of information has become available on their technology. Developments in some areas appear to have outpaced those in the West, specifically in the application of ion beams to surface modification. The present authors have had the opportunity to attend workshops in Russia and to visit laboratories. In the present work, a report is given on some of the technologies reviewed there and which are now becoming available to the West. These include novel designs in the fields of cathodic arc sources and gas ion sources, and intense ion and electron beams. These technologies will be presented.

9:45 am

THE JET DEPOSITION PROCESS: NEW TECHNIQUES AND APPLICATIONS: Brett Halpern, Jet Process Corporation, 24 Science Park, New Haven, CT 06511

Development of the "sonic jet sources in low vacuum" theme enables the Jet Vapor Deposition^TM process (JVD^TM) to make a wide range of thin film materials. Thus, we have developed jet sources, driven in the 0.1-10 torr range by mechanical pumps, for deposition of metals, semiconductors, oxides, nitrides, alloys and guest-host materials in multicomponent and multilayer form. These sources combine high rate, high efficiency, and low temperature operation with excellent control of microstructure. For example, we recently described and patented an "electron-jet, or e-jet^TM "source, which combines metal thermal vaporization with an intense thermionic plasma and allows high rate deposition of metals, oxides and nitrides coupled with simultaneous ion bombardment at high flux and low energy. JVD's versatility opens new approaches to problems in electronic, automotive, aerospace, corrosion resistance and optical applications. In this talk we review the principles of JVD, new jet source developments, JVD's advantages over conventional CVD and PVD and recent commercial applications.

10:20 am BREAK

10:30 am

DoD ACTIVITIES IN ION BEAM PROCESSING: James K. Hirvonen, Metals Research Branch, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, AMSRL-WM-ME, APG, MD 21005-5069

The use of energetic ion beams for beneficially modifying the surface sensitive properties of critical military material has been pursued within DoD now for almost two decades demonstrating improved material properties including increased wear-, fatigue-, corrosion-, and oxidation-resistance. High dose ion implantation has been demonstrated to be technically suitable for extending the lifetime of precision aerospace bearings (U.S. Navy) and specific cutting tools (U.S. Army). Ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) processing has increased both the number and the variety of DoD applications, including robust optical coatings and coatings for wear, corrosion and fatigue improvements. A DoD program exploring these benign, dry, ion beam techniques for supplanting the wet Cr/Cd electroplating processing is currently underway at the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence in Johnstown, PA. This program includes the scheduled installation, (Fall 96) of a large ion beam system for the processing of selected DoD components. The status of this program and other recent DoD ion beam efforts will be discussed.

11:05 am

SURFACE PROCESSING BY GAS CLUSTER ION BEAMS: Allen Kirkpatrick, Epion Corporation, Bedford, MA 01730

Clusters consisting of hundreds or thousands of weakly bound atoms can be formed from various gases by expanding the gas through a small nozzle into high vacuum. The clusters can be ionized and subjected to acceleration potentials so as to produce beams of cluster ions which possess high total energy, mass and momentum in combination with low energy per constituent atom. Cluster ion beams have been shown to be capable of producing processing effects which have not been available with monomer ions. A number of prospective applications for gas cluster ions have been identified and commercial gas cluster ion beam equipment is now being developed. This paper will review the current status of gas cluster ion technology and will include discussion of methods for generation of the gas cluster beams, kinetics of the interactions of cluster ions with solid materials, anticipated applications and available equipment.

11:40 am

COMPARISON OF DEPOSITION TECHNOLOGIES FOR ION ASSISTED COATINGS: A.J. Armini, S.N. Bunker, L.A. Stelmack, Implant Sciences Corporation

The current ion assisted coating methods and the corresponding equipment are compared, for depositing a variety of wear and/or corrosion resistant coatings. Ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD), unbalanced magnetron sputtering, and cathodic arc processes were used to deposit coatings of amorphous diamond, chromium, and noble metals for various applications in the aerospace, biomedical, and industrial markets. The three techniques were compared with respect to coating uniformity, deposition rate, adhesion, and microstructure. Coatings were evaluated for hardness, adhesion, smoothness, sliding wear, and friction coefficient. Coating-substrate adhesion was measured using the diamond scratch test. Wear and friction were measured against several opposing materials, using a high speed, high temperature pin-on-disk instrument. Scale-up issues and the suitability of each technology for various production applications will be discussed.