高功率脉冲磁控溅射技术制备纳米级ZrO₂ 薄膜的高耐腐蚀性

Corrosion-resistant metal oxide films are widely used in the key parts of aerospace, ocean ships and other extreme environments, but the traditional preparation technology deposits films easily with voids and cracks, and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has proven to be an effective method of depositing dense films without voids and cracks. Ultra-thin ZrO₂ films are prepared on stainless steel by HiPIMS. The law of variation for corrosion resistance of the films following the O₂ flow rate is studied with scanning electron microscope (SEM), photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), nano-indenter (Nano Test P3) and electrochemical equipment (CS300). The results reveals that when the O₂ flow rate is 40 mL / min, the nano-hardness H and the elastic modulus E achieve to the highest value of 26.38 GPa and 290.9 GPa respectively. Meanwhile, the film prepared under 40 mL / min O₂ flow rate exhibits excellent corrosion resistance. The self-corrosion current density I_corr is 45.802 pA / cm², four orders of magnitude lower than that of 304L stainless steel. The EIS spectrum shows that the radius of capacitive reactance arc, the impedance value of low frequency region and the phase angle increase continuously with the increase of O₂ flow. The strong corrosion-resistant metal oxide films can be achieved by HiPIMS, which plays an important role on protecting the stainless steel.