THE DETERMINATION OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NANOSTRUCTURED TANTALUM NITRIDE AND TANTALUM OXYNITRIDE FILMS ON THE GLASS AND STAINLESS STEEL SURFACES BY ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY

Abstract

One of the main advances in the interventional cardiology is the development of metal stents. The requirements for stents are quite strong: high flexibility, plasticity, strength and rigidity, Xray contrast, biocompatibility with the organism. For the stents production different materials are used such as stainless steel, platinum-iridium alloys, etc. The surface of the stent is covered with various types of ceramic coatings to prevent changing their properties. The study of mechanical properties of tantalum films and the evaluation of its operational properties is an important task because the surface of stents is often subjected to chemical and mechanical effects The aim of this work is to define the friction coefficient, adhesion force and roughness of tantalum nitride and tantalum oxynitride coatings on the glasses and stainless steel substrates using atomic force microscopy (AFM).