Artículos SCI

In this work, a series of WC/C nanostructured films were deposited on silicon substrates by changing the ratio of sputtering power applied to graphite and WC magnetron sources (PC/PWC: 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1). The thermal stability of WC/C coatings was followed in situ by means of X-ray diffraction measurements up to 1 100 °C in vacuum (10−1 Pa). Initially, the film microstructure is composed of nanocrystalline WC1−x and W2C phases. As the PC/PWC ratio increases the crystallinity decreases, and WC1−x becomes the predominant phase from PC/PWC = 0.1. The results show that the structural evolution with temperature of all studied layers depends essentially on their initial phase and chemical composition (determined by the synthesis conditions: ratio PC/PWC). The coating deposited at PC/PWC = 0 reveals a transformation of W2C phase into W and W3C phases at 400 °C. However, the samples with PC/PWC greater than 0 exhibits an improved thermal stability up to 600–700 °C where the WC1−x begins to transform into W2C and WC phases. At 900 °C, WC is the predominant phase, especially for those coatings prepared with higher ratios. Further annealing above 1 000 °C yields W as the foremost phase. The thermal behaviour was later studied by means of Raman spectroscopy measurements at certain temperatures where the main changes in phase composition were observed. Particularly, a fitting analysis was carried out on the D and G bands typical of disordered and amorphous carbon. The changes induced during heating are discussed in terms of the positions of D and G lines, and full width at half maximum (FWHM).

Superduplex stainless steels (SDSSs) combine the good mechanical behavior and the high corrosion resistance of the ferrite (α-Fe) and austenite (γ-Fe) phases. The SDSSs properties depend strongly on the partitioning of the elements that form the alloy. The ferrite is generally enriched in P, Si, Cr and Mo while the content of Ni, Mn, Cu and N in the austenite phase is higher. Nitrogen is known to be a strong austenite stabilizer and its presence increases the strength and the pitting corrosion resistance of the stainless steels. While the global nitrogen content in SDSSs can be readily determined using elemental analyzers, it cannot be measured at a microscopic scale.

In this work, the nuclear microprobe of the Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (Sevilla) was used to obtain the quantitative distribution of nitrogen in SDSSs. A deuteron beam of 1.8 MeV was employed to determine the overall elemental concentration of the matrix by deuteron-induced X-ray emission, whereas the nitrogen partitioning coefficients were obtained by using the 14N(d, α0)12C nuclear reaction. Mappings of this element show that the nitrogen ratio between the ferrite and austenite phases ranges from 0.3 to 0.6 in the analyzed samples.