Research on the controllable fabrication of amorphous/nanocrystalline multilayer film modulation structures and the tribological damage mechanism

This research broke through the single strengthening mode of traditional wear-resistant films. It used magnetron sputtering to construct an amorphous/nanocrystalline multilayer film system with both strength and toughness. This provides a new solution for wear protection on spherical plain bearing surfaces. By systematically adjusting the modulation ratio of the multilayer films, the coupling enhancement mechanism of the tribological properties was revealed from two aspects: microstructural evolution and stress distribution. The study found that the residual stress state and the distribution of amorphous and nanocrystalline phases play a decisive role in friction and wear behaviour. The amorphous phase effectively blunts microcrack propagation under cyclic loading due to its excellent toughness and stress buffering ability. The nanocrystalline phase acts as a hard skeleton, providing high load-bearing capacity through grain boundary strengthening and dispersion strengthening. High-density clear heterogeneous interfaces become key paths for strain energy dissipation. They delay film failure through interfacial shear slip and stress redistribution. The test results showed that film (2#) had the highest hardness (6.514 GPa) and moderate residual compressive stress. Its wear rate was reduced by 28.7% and 22.1% compared with films (1#) and (3#) respectively. It exhibited excellent friction stability. Based on this, this research established an integrated design strategy of "stress regulation - structure optimisation - performance synergy". It provides a new theoretical basis and technical approach for the development of highly reliable wear-resistant films for spherical plain bearings.