Fabrication of nanostructured Mo coatings on Al and Ti substrates by ball impact cladding

Nanostructured multicomponent Mo coatings were fabricated on Ti and Al substrates by ball impact cladding at room temperature in an ambient atmosphere. The process involved subjecting the substrate and Mo foil fixed at the top of a vibration chamber to high-energy collisions with balls. The coating formation was the result of a simultaneous process of mechanically induced plastic flow, nanocrystallization, and interdiffusion caused by the ball collisions. Plastic deformation refined the grains at the Mo foil/substrate interface to the nanometre scale. The size of nanocrystalline grains in the Mo coatings ranged between 2 nm and 10 nm. The ball collisions caused atomic level intermixing of different elements, introduced into the surface from the steel balls used for milling, and solid solubility improved remarkably. The hardness of the Mo coatings on the Al and Ti substrates was 552 and 1010 HV, respectively. The initial hardness of the Mo foil was 287 HV. The high hardness of the Mo claddings was attributed to the fine grain structure, formation of supersaturated solid solutions, and high residual compressive stresses.