Impact Behaviour of PtIr-Based Coatings with Different Interlayers for Glass Lens Moulding

Over the last decades demands for optical systems and complex optical products made of glass increased steadily. Precision glass moulding has a great potential for the bulk production of complex lenses with high precision and low costs. To prevent sticking or reactions between hot glass and moulding, and to reduce abrasive wear of the die a protective coating is deposited on the tool. In this research two coating systems suitable for this application are compared by analysing their behaviour under an impact load. The PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) coating PtIr with two different bond coatings Ni or Cr is analysed. During impact test number of impacts and loads are varied. Compared to industrially used coating system PtIr with a Ni interlayer the adhesion can be improved by using a Cr interlayer. The PtIr-based coating with Cr as bond coating shows an excellent endurance even at very high loads causing Hertzian stresses in the range of 10 14 GPa. An impact load of 600 N which corresponds to a contact pressure of app. 13.2 GPa generates almost no damage after 200,000 impacts.