Abstract Niobium nitride and copper (NbN-Cu) composite films with different copper content (Cu/(Nb+Cu) = 0.6 at.%-24.8 at.%) were deposited using magnetron sputtering, and the microstructure and tribological properties of the films were investigated. The… Click to show full abstract
Abstract Niobium nitride and copper (NbN-Cu) composite films with different copper content (Cu/(Nb+Cu) = 0.6 at.%-24.8 at.%) were deposited using magnetron sputtering, and the microstructure and tribological properties of the films were investigated. The results showed that the films exhibited a mixture phase of face-centered cubic (fcc) NbN, hexagonal close-packed (hcp)NbN and fcc-Cu. The addition of copper below 6.0 at.% dropped both friction coefficient (μ) and wear rate (WR) sharply. A further increase in copper content decreased the μ furtherly, while the decreasing in μ took sacrifice of WR. The addition copper of 6.0 at.% into the niobium nitride matrix could broaden the niobium nitride film's effective service temperature to 400 °C. The lubricating copper (
               
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