Mechanical properties of the copper alloyed carbon coatings deposited from cathodic pulse plasma

In the present paper the copper alloying of single-component and titanium- containing diamond-like coatings obtained from cathodic pulse plasma is examined. The pecularities of the influence of the copper alloying of such coatings on their microhardness, internal mechanical stresses and morphology have been defined. It is shown, that copper-containing carbon coatings have non-uniform structure, they are characterised by lower microhardness and they keep high tribotechnical properties. Microhardness increases after annealing the coatings containing carbon, titanium and copper. Copper implantation into the coating leads to decrease of internal mechanical stresses and changes their character; at high copper concentration they become compressing.