Effects of temperature on the deformation of 6H–SiC during nanoscratching

With the aid of large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, this paper comprehensively investigated the effects of processing temperature on the deformation of single crystal 6H–SiC during nanoscratching. The effect was investigated across a wide range of temperature variations, from 1 K to 900 K. It was found that with increasing the processing temperature, the material removal mechanism of 6H–SiC experience a transition from intermittent cleavage to continuous plastic deformation. The deformation mechanism of 6H–SiC is achieved by the combination of surface amorphization and subsurface dislocations that reside mainly in the cubic diamond structural layer. The processing temperature significantly affects the dislocation distribution, groove morphology, scratching forces and coefficient of friction. The anisotropic effect on chip formation decreases with increasing the processing temperature. By evaluating surface roughness and the maximum subsurface damage depth, the investigation concludes that the scratched surface/subsurface quality of 6H–SiC deteriorates with increasing processing temperature.