Fanxiu Lv

Nanodiamond films deposited at moderate temperature on pure titanium substrate pretreated by ultrasonic scratching in diamond powder suspension

Abstract Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) film deposition on pure titanium and Ti alloys is extraordinarily difficult because of the high diffusion coefficient of carbon in Ti, the large mismatch in their thermal expansion coefficients, the complex nature of the interlayer formed during diamond deposition, and the difficulty to achieve very high nucleation density. In this investigation, NCD films were successfully deposited on pure Ti substrate by using a novel substrate pretreatment of ultrasonic scratching in a diamond powder-ethanol suspension and by a two-step process at moderate temperature. It was shown that by scratching with a 30-μm diamond suspension for 1 h, followed by a 10-h diamond deposition, a continuous NCD film was obtained with an average grain size of about 200 nm. Detailed experimental results on the preparation, characterization, and successful deposition of the NCD films on Ti were discussed.

Particle erosion of infrared materials

Abstract Erosion test of some infrared (IR) optical crystals (Ge, ZnS, MgF2, and quartz) was conducted with a number of different erodents (glass bead, and angular SiC, SiO2, Al2O3) by a homemade gas-blasting erosion tester. The influence of impact angle, impact velocity, erodent, and erosion time on the erosion rate and the effect of erosion on their IR transmittance were studied. The damaged surface morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and the erosion mechanism was explored. All of the materials show the maximum in wear versus impact angle at 90°, confirming their brittle failure behavior. It is found that the erosion rate is dependent on the erodent velocity by a power law, and it is highly correlated to the hardness of the erodent. The erosion rate-time curves do not show an incubation state, but an accelerated erosion period followed a maximum erosion (steady state). The decrease of IR transmittance is direct proportion to the erosion rate. Although the material loss occurs primarily by brittle process, ductile behavior is clearly an important feature, especially for MgF2 and ZnS.

Thermal Stress in Free-standing Diamond Films with Cr Interlayer Destroyed

Thermal stress in large area free-standing diamond films was remarkable during the post-deposition cooling of direct current (DC) arc plasma jet chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. In this research, the stress release caused by delamination of Cr interlayer was of great importance to ensure the integrity of free-standing diamond film. The effects of Cr interlayer on Mo substrate, namely composite substrate, on thermal stress were investigated. Thermo-mechanical coupling analysis of the thermal stress was applied by finite element analysis (FEA) using ANSYS code. It was found that the interlayer could be destroyed first by the large thermal stress, and then the stress could be released and the probability of diamond film crack initiation would be reduced. The stress concentration at the bent edge of diamond film was also discussed. In addition, diamond films deposited on Mo substrates with and without Cr interlayer were prepared by DC arc plasma jet CVD system and experimental measurements were used to characterize these films. It was found that composite substrate could be an effective method of growing free-standing crack-free diamond films by DC arc plasma jet CVD system when there is no special requirement to the film strength.

Diagnosis of gas phase near the substrate surface in diamond film deposition by high-power DC arc plasma jet CVD

Abstract Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was used to study the gas phase composition near the substrate surface during diamond deposition by high-power DC arc plasma jet chemical vapor deposition (CVD). C2 radical was determined as the main carbon radical in this plasma atmosphere. The deposition parameters, such as substrate temperature, anode-substrate distance, methane concentration, and gas flow rate, were inspected to find out the influence on the gas phase. A strong dependence of the concentrations and distribution of radicals on substrate temperature was confirmed by the design of experiments (DOE). An explanation for this dependence could be that radicals near the substrate surface may have additional ionization or dissociation and also have recombination, or are consumed on the substrate surface where chemical reactions occur.