An Improved Method for Determining Residual Stresses in Thin Hard Coatings

Methods have been developed for determining residual stresses in coatings of topocomposites; the appearance of interfacial fracture at the coating–substrate interface during instrumental indentation is typical for such materials. The novelty of the techniques consists in the analysis of the indentation diagram obtained as a result of a repeated indentation cycle. The results can be used for practical and scientific purposes to estimate qualitatively the type and value of uniaxial residual stresses in thin hard coatings of topocomposites in which the hardness of the substrate and coating differ significantly and the indentation process is accompanied by interfacial fracture along the coating–substrate interface.