Manufacturing and Characterization of a Carbon-Based Amorphous (a-CNX) Coating Material

A thick 400-micron amorphous carbon nitride (a-CNX ) coating material was synthesized by means of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process. High-power impulse magnetron sputtering technique was used to sputter a pure graphite target plate in reactive argon (Ar), nitrogen (N2 ) and acetylene (C2 H2 ) environment for depositing the omposite coating. Structural and chemical/elemental composition of the a-CNX  composite material was investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The rootmean-square surface roughness (Sq ) and structure were estimated by atomic force microscopy. Mechanical properties such as hardness and Young’s modulus (Oliver–Pharr method) at room temperature were characterized by Vickers microindentation test. Operational temperature test of the deposited a-CNX  coating reveals that it can withstand up to 400 C without cracking. An inverted shaker test, based on central impedance method, was adopted to investigate the dynamic damping property of the coating material, and it was found that the first bending mode damping lossfactor of the reported a-CNX  coating is 0.015 ±  0.001 and corresponding loss modulus (Young’s modulus multiplied by lossfactor) is 0.234 ±  0.011 GPa.</p