Study of micromechanical properties of ion-beam mixed tungsten-on-steel layers

The relations linking structure, microhardness and adhesion were studied for ion-beam mixed tungsten layers deposited on the surface of high-speed steel. The 45 nm thick W layer were mixed with 340 keV Kr ions at temperatures ranging fro, RT up to 450°C. The increase of mixing temperature results in partial crystallization of the layers and the increase of the layer hardness. Substantial increase of layer adhesion has been observed in scratch tests for all mixed samples.