Mechanical and surface properties of Ti-sputtered thin films

The mechanical behaviour of the film and the thickness influence on the surface morphology have been studied in detail for Ti-sputtered coatings deposited at room temperature on AA6082 T6 and AA2618/20% Al2O3 flat samples. The intrinsic hardness and surface roughness of Ti thin films ranging from 0.5 µm to 2 µm have been investigated. The higher the coating thickness (up to 2 µm), the lower the surface roughness and the higher the intrinsic hardness of the film. The improvement of surface roughness has been achieved by Ti-sputtered clusters able to cover the micro-valleys.