Nanoindentation of functionally graded hybrid polymer/metal thin films

Abstract Hybrid functionally graded coatings (2D-FGC) were deposited by magnetron co-sputtering from poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) and AISI 316L stainless steel (316L) targets. The carbon and fluorine content varied from 7.3 to 23.7 at.% and from 0 to 57 at.%, respectively. The surface modification was developed to change the surface of 316L vascular stents in order to improve the biocompatibility of the outmost layer of the metallic biomaterial. In-depth XPS analysis revealed the presence of a graded chemical composition accompanied by the variation of the film structure. These results were complemented by those of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis that highlighted the nanocomposite nature of the coatings. The nanomechanical characterization of 2D-FGC was performed by nanoindentation at several loads on the thin films deposited onto two different steel substrates: 316L and AISI M2. The study allowed establishing 0.7 mN as the load that characterized the coatings without substrate influence. Both hardness and Young modulus decrease with the increase of fluorine content due to the evolution in chemical composition, chemical bonds and structure.