Hard Coatings and Tribological Surfaces for Wear, Friction and Corrosion Resistance
This community develops protective surface layers and hard materials designed to withstand friction, wear, and chemical attack, primarily for mechanical components and industrial machinery.
The work centers on depositing and engineering thin films, hard coatings, and surface modifications to enhance the durability of metals and ceramics. Recurring materials include diamond-like carbon, amorphous carbon, titanium nitride, boron carbide, and silicon carbide. Common processing methods involve magnetron sputtering, plasma sintering, and plasma nitriding. The research focuses on optimizing the mechanical and tribological behavior of these surfaces, specifically targeting improved friction wear performance, corrosion resistance, and oxidation resistance. Applications span stainless steel components, bipolar plates for fuel cells, and carbon-carbon composites, with a strong emphasis on how microstructure influences surface hardness and longevity under stress.
The community is most heavily represented in research on Boron, where it accounts for 4.3% of all tracked Boron papers, and Tin, contributing 3.9% of that element's research. It also holds a 2.4% share of Molybdenum research. Carbon research contains the highest absolute number of papers from this group, with 16,063 entries, representing 1.9% of all Carbon research.
The community comprises 60,812 papers, published predominantly in Surface and Coatings Technology, Thin Solid Films, and Carbon. Recent work continues to focus on atomistic simulations of lubricants, surface hardening of stainless steel, and the design of multilayer coatings for marine environments.