Finite Element Analysis of the

Initial Yielding Behavior of a Hard

Coating/Substrate System With
Functionally Graded Interface
L. S. Stephens Under Indentation and Friction
Yan Liu
E. I. Meletis The initial yielding behavior due to the indentation and friction process between an
elastic cylindrical surface and hard coating/functionally graded substrate system is ana-
Mechanical Engineering Department,
lyzed by finite element modeling. A thin hard DLC film deposited on a soft Ti–6Al–4V
Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
alloy substrate is considered as a model system. Two functional gradient substrate con-
ditions are considered: (i) a gradient in yield strength and (ii) a gradient in elastic
modulus. In both cases, appropriate gradients result in significant benefits to the reliabil-
ity of the coated system compared to the case of an ungraded substrate. The results
indicate that systems with an appropriate gradient in yield strength: (i) can withstand
significantly higher applied contact stresses (3–12 times higher for the present model
system), (ii) shift the location of the initial yield point deeper into the substrate (at least
by a factor of 2 for the present model system), and (iii) can use coatings of greater
thickness. Finally, the results indicate that an appropriate gradient in elastic modulus
results in a dramatic reduction in equivalent stress on the contact surface and at the
interface as compared to the ungraded case. The present results suggest distinct benefits
to the durability of coated systems when using a substrate with functionally graded prop-
erties. 关S0742-4787共00兲02002-6兴

1 Introduction stress states by using the least-squares approach and determined

Traditionally, hard coatings have been used to improve the tri-
bological properties of metallic materials in many engineering
components. Due to poor deflection ability, failure of thin hard
coatings under indentation and friction is usually triggered by ini-
tiation and propagation of cracks on the coating/substrate interface
and consequent flaking of the coating material from the substrate
关1兴. Thus, during indentation and friction, the degradation of hard
coatings largely depends on the nonuniform spatial stress distri-
bution and the plastic flow in the coating/substrate. Due to the
difference in mechanical properties between the coating and sub-
strate, accurate solutions of stress distribution in layered media
cannot be extracted from previous work on homogenous media.
Proper analysis then requires advanced numerical methods such as
finite element methods 共FEM兲.
Early investigations have produced profound information about
the deformation characteristics of sliding contact on both layered
and homogeneous media. Hamilton and Goodman 关2兴 performed
both plane-strain and three-dimensional analysis of rigid circular
sliders contacting a homogenous half-space. It was found that the
maximum equivalent 共von Mises兲 stress, and hence the point of
initial yielding, occurred in the subsurface directly below the
slider for a sufficiently low friction coefficient and that this point
moves toward the surface with increasing friction coefficient.
From the crack initiation viewpoint, Kennedy and Ling 关3兴 used
FEM to analyze the indentation problem of a thin elastic-plastic
coating deposited on different substrates. They showed that the
indenter size, the contact pressure, the coating thickness, and the
coating and substrate properties affect the yielding event.
Considering frictional forces on the coating surface, King and
O’Sullivan 关4,5兴 analyzed two- and three-dimensional quasi-static
Contributed by the Tribology Division for publication in the Journal of Tribology.
Manuscript received by the Tribology Division March 23, 1999; revised manuscript
received July 14, 1999. Associate Technical Editor: J. A. Williams.
the distribution of equivalent stresses in the coating and substrate.
It was found that the position of the maximum equivalent stress
depends on the stiffness of the coating relative to the substrate, the
ratio of coating thickness to half-contact width and the value of
the coefficient of friction.
A more rigorous analysis has been performed by Komvopoulos
关6兴 using elastic-plastic FEA to calculate the stress distribution of
an indented ceramic coating on a metallic substrate. It was shown
that the coating thickness and the mechanical properties of the
coating and the substrate significantly affect the contact pressure
profile on the contact surface. Also, it was found that yielding in
the layered medium always initiates at the coating-substrate inter-
face below the center of contact and the plastic zone does not
grow toward the surface of the indented layered medium but is
restricted to the boundary of the hard coating and the substrate.
Similar FE analysis of a rigid indenter on an elastoplastic two-
layered system has been conducted by other investigators 关7,8兴.
The Hertz theory and FEM have been combined by Djabella and
Arnell 关9兴 to analyze elastic stresses in single, double, and
multilayer systems. More recently, the surface deformation char-
acteristics resulting from indentation and sliding contact between
a rigid sphere and a layered half-space were examined by per-
forming three-dimensional FE simulations 关10兴.
Detailed local yield maps for the indentation and friction of
coating/substrate systems were developed by Diao and Koji 关11兴.
They concluded that for low friction conditions ( f ⫽0.25), local
yielding occurs in the substrate under a wide variety of S f /S s (S f ,
S s : yield strength of film and substrate, respectively兲 values when
t/a⬍0.3 共t, a: film thickness and half contact width, respectively兲.
Only when S f /S s is very close to unity and t/a⬎3, the local
yielding appears in the coating. Between these two cases (0.3
⬍t/a⬍3), yielding initiates at the coating/substrate interface and
develops into the substrate. For a high friction condition ( f
⫽0.5), the yielding at the surface dominates when S f /S s ⬍3 and

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 the yielding at the coating/substrate interface dominates when
S f /S s ⬎3. Wong et al. 关12兴 studied the effects of repeated normal
and frictional loading of surfaces with hard coating and homoge-
neous 共ungraded兲 soft substrates. Shakedown limits were pre-
sented as a function of system parameters, including those for
multilayered system. Kapoor and Williams 关13兴 conducted an
analysis involving a hardness gradient developed in steels by
plasma nitriding, but no hard top coating was involved in this
analysis.
The above analysis shows that under certain conditions 共low
friction coefficient, f兲, yielding will occur within the substrate.
Thus, the properties of the subsurface region of the substrate are
expected to critically impact the coating/substrate system. This
issue becomes more important in the case of soft substrates and is
the subject of the present study.
An innovative approach to accommodate hard films on soft
substrates is to develop a functionally graded or composite inter-
face with gradient mechanical properties 共yielding strength, S y or
elastic modulus, E兲 as was demonstrated by Meletis et al. 关14兴 and
Voevodin et al. 关15兴. It is anticipated that the more uniform stress
and strain gradient at the interface will have a positive impact on
the tribological behavior of hard films. The reduction of strain
differentials at the interface and of film deflection by establishing
the functionally graded interface may allow the film to operate in
the elastic regime causing a positive impact on its behavior and
durability.
Up to now, no information related to the yielding behavior of
indented graded media 共graded yield strength and/or elastic
modulus兲 under friction is available. The objective of this study,
therefore, is to investigate, using FEM, the initial yielding behav-
ior in a system composed of a hard coating deposited on a func-
tionally graded interface developed in a soft substrate. Diamond-
like carbon 共DLC兲 coating is considered as a model coating. This
coating is characterized by high hardness and low friction. A rela-
tively low E alloy 共Ti–6Al–4V alloy兲 was selected as the model
substrate material. A hardness gradient can be produced in this
alloy by a plasma nitriding process that results in a nitrogen dif-
fusion layer 关16兴. The DLC film can be deposited using ion-beam
deposition which has been found to produce high quality and ad-
herent DLC films 关13兴. In the model, friction is generated by
assuming an elastic steel cylindrical surface sliding on the duplex
DLC/nitrided Ti–6Al–4V alloy. Experimental aspects on this sys-
tem can be found elsewhere 关13,15,17,18兴.
The present calculations are divided into two groups: 共i兲 a sub-
strate with a gradient in yield strength while the elastic modulus is
constant, and 共ii兲 an interface with linearly graded elastic modu-
lus. Results from group 共i兲 calculations are presented as a function
of coating thickness, external contact stress, coefficient of friction
and elastic modulus of coating, in order to obtain an insight into
the influence of these parameters on the initiation of yielding in
the substrate during indentation and friction. Group 共ii兲 calcula-
tions are conducted by assuming an array of linearly graded elas-
tic modulus in order to investigate its effect on the stress distribu-
tion in the coating/substrate region.
2 Finite Element Modeling of Indentation and Friction
of a Cylindrical Surface on Flat Surface
Establishment of Finite Element Model. Consider a hard
coating bonded perfectly to a semi-infinite body of the substrate
so that the combination of coating and substrate can be assumed
to be a single bulk medium. An elastic surface, assumed to be an
infinitely long circular cylinder, is indented into the coating and is
represented by the resulting Hertzian contact stress distribution
between the indenter and half space with a half-width of 10 ␮m.
This value of the contact radius is reasonable for flat surfaces as
those pertaining to polished thin film surfaces 关12兴. During inden-
tation of the cylinder on the flat coated surface, the semi-infinite
body is in the condition of plane strain. The indentation condition
and corresponding coordinate system are shown in Fig. 1. This
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Fig. 1 Finite element model and coordinate system for inden-
tation and friction of elastic cylindrical indenter on a hard
coatingÕsoft substrate system
model of the indentation and friction process is similar to that
found in 关11兴 with an elliptic pressure distribution, N(x), resulting
from normal load, P, and the traction, F(x), resulting from fric-
tion force, F f .
The distribution of normal contact pressure, N(x), on the con-
tact area is assumed to be of the elliptical form within the contact
width, 2a, of the contact region 关19兴:
N共 x 兲⫽
2P
␲a
冑 1⫺
x2
a2
共 for 兩 x 兩 ⭐a 兲 , (1)
where P is the normal load per unit length of cylindrical indenter.
The normal pressure is applied to the FE model as a piecewise
stepped surface pressure normal to the face of each element. For a
large number of elements this approximates the actual pressure
distribution given in Eq. 共1兲. The tangential traction due to fric-
tion, F(x), along the contact width is accordingly calculated by
F共 x 兲⫽ f N共 x 兲 共 for 兩 x 兩 ⭐a 兲 , (2)
where f is the coefficient of friction. This surface traction is ap-
plied to the FE model using the stepped approximation of N(x).
Note that the Cartesian coordinate system (x,y,z) is centered
on the coating/substrate interface, therefore z/a⫽0 corresponds to
the coating/substrate interface, not the contact surface. This is
important when interpreting results later in the paper. The geom-
etry of the half-space considered in the FE analysis is dependent
upon the value of half width, a. It has been shown previously that
the effect of loading on the contact area becomes insignificant at a
horizontal distance of approximately four to six times the contact
width of the indentation and a vertical distance approximately
four to ten times the contact width of the indentation 关20兴. More
recent work has shown this effect to be even less at 20 times the
contact width. In this analysis, the horizontal and vertical dis-
tances are chosen to be 20a. It is assumed that the displacements
of each nodal point located on the defined boundary are con-
strained to zero. The half-space is discretized using an array of
2000 to 3000 two-dimensional eight-node isoparametric quadrilat-
eral elements. To obtain accurate stress distributions on the con-
tact area and highly stressed zone near the contact area, the finite
element mesh of the half-space was refined in this region. The
horizontal and vertical dimensions of the mesh beneath the con-
tact region are 0.039a and 0.0625t 共t is the thickness of the coat-
ing兲, respectively. The multifunction finite element program
ANSYS共5.4兲 was used for calculation and processing of the
results.
Evaluation of the Finite Element Model. To evaluate the
accuracy of the finite element model, a system was assumed com-
posed of a steel cylindrical indenter and Ti–6Al–4V alloy sub-
Transactions of the ASME

Fig. 2 Comparison between analytical and finite element solu-
tions for t Õ R Ä0 and „a… f Ä0 and „b… f Ä0.5
strate without coating and loaded with P⫽50,000 N/m and f ⫽0
and 0.5. The results calculated by FEM were compared with ana-
lytical ones of normalized stress distribution along the z axis (x
⫽0) given in the reference by Smith and Liu 关21兴. The results
from both approaches are presented in Figs. 2共a兲 and 2共b兲, where
good agreement is shown between the FE model and the analyti-
cal results.
Yielding Criterion and Properties of the Functionally
Graded Layer. For the system considered in the present study,
failure of the hard coating typically occurs due to local plastic
flow in the subsurface region of the substrate. Thus, it is important
to determine the initial yield point in the substrate. According to
the elasto-plastic theory in isotropic materials, elastic deformation
ceases and yielding commences when the von Mises yield crite-
rion is satisfied, i.e.:
␴ ⬘ ⫽ 兵 21 关共 ␴ 1 ⫺ ␴ 2 兲 2 ⫹ 共 ␴ 2 ⫺ ␴ 3 兲 2 ⫹ 共 ␴ 3 ⫺ ␴ 1 兲 2 兴 其 1/2⭓S y
where ␴⬘ is the equivalent 共von Mises兲 stress, ␴ 1 , ␴ 2 , and ␴ 3 are
the first, second, and third principal stresses, respectively, and S y
is the local yield strength.
In this study, the nitrided substrate possesses a gradient in yield
strength. Based on previous investigations, the yield strength in
Fig. 3 Hardness and yield strength profiles for plasma nitrided
Ti–6Al–4V alloy †16‡
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Table 1 Elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of coating and
substrate materials
E共GPa兲 ␯
Indenter 共steel兲 207 0.31
Coating 共DLC兲* 350 0.3
Substrate 共Ti–6Al–4V兲 113.7 0.321
*Reference 关30兴
tension of an isotropically deforming material can be considered
to be one-third of the indentation hardness when the strain-
hardening coefficient is negligibly small. In the present analysis,
the measured hardness of DLC films 共30 GPa兲 关17兴 and hardness
profile determined in the nitrided layer 关16兴 are used to derive the
yield strength profile of the coating and graded interface, respec-
tively. The hardness profile of nitrided Ti–6Al–4V and the cor-
responding yield strength profile are shown in Fig. 3. Note that the
yield strength of the ungraded Ti–6Al–4V alloy is S y ⫽1 GPa.
The mechanical properties of the materials used in the model
are listed in Table 1. The elastic modulus of the nitrided Ti–
6Al–4V layer can be considered to be that of bulk 共unprocessed兲
Ti–6Al–4V alloy since the low percentage of interstitial nitrogen
atoms in the layer 共⬍10 at percent兲 will not create a noticeable
variation in E.
In the present analysis, the radius of the cylindrical indenter,
共R兲, the half-width of the contact, 共a兲, and the maximum contact
stress, ( P o ⫽2 P/ ␲ a), are used to normalize the coating thickness,
共t兲, distance from the coating/substrate interface, 共z兲, and the cal-
culated equivalent stress values, respectively.
3 Results and Discussion
Spatial Equivalent Stress Distribution and Initial Yielding
Point. Figure 4 presents the distribution of equivalent stress at
various depths under the combination of normal and tangential
tractions for a system composed of a low friction hard coating
共DLC with f ⫽0.1) on a soft substrate 共Ti–6Al–4V alloy兲. The
curves show peak values of equivalent stress passing very near the
center-line of the contact region (x⫽0). A detailed analysis of the
resulting stress data on the individual nodes reveals that the maxi-
mum values of the equivalent stress at various depths lay on a line
with the coordinate of x⬇0.0125a, which has negligible deviation
from the central line of the contact region. Also, a comparison
between the maximum values along these two positions 共i.e., x
(3) ⬇0.0125a and x⫽0) shows no significant change. This bears out
the well known result that a pure normal traction results in a
distribution of the equivalent stress that is symmetric about the
z-axis. Further, the addition of tangential traction, due to friction,
distorts the distribution of equivalent stress to the friction
direction.
Fig. 4 Distribution of equivalent stress at various depths in
the substrate with low friction coefficient DLC coating „ t Õ R
Ä0.07, f Ä0.1…
APRIL 2000, Vol. 122 Õ 383

Fig. 5 Profiles of calculated equivalent stress and graded and
ungraded substrate yield strength „ t Õ R Ä0, f Ä0…
Thus, the analysis of spatial equivalent stress distribution can
be reasonably simplified by only considering the equivalent stress
distribution along the z axis.
The analysis of initial yielding is based on comparing the cal-
culated equivalent stress distribution and the yield strength profile
in the near surface region of the substrate given in Fig. 3. The
location of initial yielding for an ungraded substrate clearly occurs
at the depth of the maximum equivalent stress. However, for a
graded substrate this is not necessarily true. In fact, given an ap-
propriate strength gradient, the location of initial yield can be
pushed deeper into the substrate, away from the coating/substrate
interface, thus reducing the likelihood of failure. The approach
then is to compare the resulting equivalent stress profile to the
yield strength profile to determine at what substrate depth and
applied contact stress initial yielding occurs.
This approach is illustrated in Fig. 5 with the profiles of the
calculated equivalent stress and yield strength of the graded Ti–
6Al–4V alloy substrate for the case of indentation with no coating
present (t/R⫽0), a loading condition of P o /H DLC⫽0.185, zero
friction, and a contact half-width of a⫽10 ␮ m 共the radius, R, of
the indenter is the free variable兲. In this figure, the normalized
equivalent stress distribution is independent of maximum contact
pressure, P o , but the normalized graded and ungraded yield
strength profiles scale inversely with contact pressure. The contact
pressure for this figure corresponds to the yield point of the
graded substrate. This figure clearly shows that the substrate with
a proper gradient in yield strength is above the initial yield point
at all depths, while the original 共unprocessed兲 substrate is clearly
beyond its yield point ( P o /H DLC⫽0.059). This figure also illus-
trates that the location of the initial yield point can be pushed
significantly deeper into the substrate (z o /a⫽1.3 for the graded
substrate versus z o /a⫽0.67 for the ungraded substrate兲. This is
achieved by designing a graded profile with an initial gradient that
is slightly steeper than that of the equivalent stress profile and that
includes a distinct knee. Under this design the yield point will
occur at the location of this knee.
Figure 5 shows a tangent line to the equivalent stress curve that
represents the minimum gradient for the graded strength profile
such that the yield point occurs at the knee. This line is extrapo-
lated to give the minimum required surface yield strength for the
graded case as 0.74P o . 共Note that Muraleedharan and Meletis
关15兴 achieved 1.62 times this in practice.兲
The depth of the initial yield point for the graded substrate is
twice that of the ungraded substrate as shown in Fig. 5. Moving
the location of the yield point deeper into the substrate is advan-
tageous as it moves the initial yield point further away from the
coating/substrate interface, reducing the likelihood of coating fail-
ure. Results are presented below showing the location of the ini-
tial yield point as a function of friction coefficient and coating
thickness.
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Initiation of Yielding. By further examination of the equiva-
lent stress and the strength profiles of Fig. 5, it is evident that the
maximum contact stress ( P o ) does not exercise any influence on
the normalized location of initial yielding point (z o /a). This is
true for any given coating thickness as the normalized equivalent
stress profile is independent of contact stress for any given coating
thickness, and the normalized substrate yield strength profile 共ei-
ther graded or ungraded兲 simply scales up and down and is in-
versely proportional to the contact stress. This is also true for low
values of friction ( f ⬍0.1) as those found in DLC coatings. In
fact, for f ⫽0.1, yielding of the ungraded substrate occurs at a
normalized depth of 0.65 which is very close to the normalized
yielding location predicted by the equivalent yield criterion with-
out friction 共0.67兲 关22兴. The small difference is more than likely
due to the applied tangential friction force, which is consistent
with previous calculations 关23兴.
Figure 6 shows the normalized location of the initial yielding
point as a function of coating thickness, for the graded and un-
graded substrate and for f ⫽0.1. For the ungraded substrate with
thin coatings, t/R⫽0.02, 0.04, yielding initiates in the substrate
beneath the contacting region and at a depth of 0.40a and 0.22a,
respectively. For thicker coatings, t/R⫽0.07 and beyond, yielding
starts on the coating/substrate interface, regardless of the
P o /H DLC value. In fact, careful analysis reveals that in the case of
thick coatings, the peak values of equivalent stress 共as shown in
Fig. 5兲 locate inside the coating. However, for a brittle coating
such as DLC, plastic flow prior to fracture in the coating should
be neglected, thus it is considered that yielding initiates on the
coating/substrate interface. On the other hand, in the case of a
hard and tough coating, plastic deformation prior to fracture be-
comes feasible. In the latter case, plastic flow would initiate in the
coating provided that its yield strength is exceeded by the maxi-
mum equivalent stress.
For the graded substrate, Fig. 6 indicates that yielding occurs at
the knee of the graded profile (1.3a) independent of coating thick-
ness. Thus, coating delamination is less likely for the graded sub-
strate. This result demonstrates how a gradient in substrate yield
strength can alleviate a failure tendency in systems involving hard
coatings on soft substrates.
Usually, for a brittle coating 共such as DLC兲, plastic flow near or
at the interface may initiate nucleation and growth of cracks along
the interface due to its inability to follow the deflection of the
substrate. The interfacial delamination of the coating will be gen-
erated by this plastic flow and followed by crack growth along the
interface. Also, the intrinsic highly compressive stress present in
such coatings 共⬎4 GPa兲 and their brittle nature can trigger the
initiation and growth of cracks within the coating 关24,25兴. Thus,
for ungraded substrates as the coating thickness increases, the
stored elastic strain energy builds up to a critical level that can
cause either coating delamination from the substrate or cracking
Fig. 6 Location of initial yielding as a function of coating
thickness „ f Ä0.1…
Transactions of the ASME
 of the coating itself. However, for appropriately designed graded
substrates, the problem of coating delamination due to plastic flow
can, to a degree, be alleviated.
Furthermore, the results of Fig. 6 indicate that in a graded sub-
strate thicker coatings can be used and thus, the lifetime of the
tribological system can be increased. This was not possible previ-
ously with ungraded substrates since at a certain coating thick-
ness, yielding would have initiated at the interface and reduced
coating durability.
Effects on Initial Yielding Point. The correlation of normal-
ized critical applied stress ( P crit : applied stress at which yielding
initiates兲, P crit /H DLC , with normalized coating thickness, t/R is
shown in Fig. 7 for the case of low friction ( f ⫽0.1). As previ-
ously indicated, when t/R⫽0 共no coating兲, P crit /H DLC⫽0.059 for
the ungraded substrate and P crit /H DLC⫽0.185 for the graded sub-
strate considered in this paper. As the coating thickness increases,
the maximum equivalent stress in the substrate moves closer to
the interface for values of t/R⭐0.07 and into the coating for val-
ues of t/R⬎0.07 as indicated in Fig. 6. This effect is shown in
Fig. 8 for a value of t/R⫽0.1. Note the discontinuity at the inter-
face (z/a⫽0) due to the abrupt change in material property and
the high stress on the contact surface due to surface friction. Cor-
respondingly, for the ungraded substrate, initial yielding occurs at
the peak equivalent stress for coating thickness values up to t/R
⫽0.07 and at the interface for coating thickness values greater
than t/R⫽0.07. As a result of this trend, Fig. 7 indicates that the
normalized critical applied stress decreases very slightly from
0.059 as the peak equivalent stress moves towards the interface
(t/R⬍0.7). The critical applied stress then begins to increase
slightly once the peak has moved into the coating (t/R⬎0.07) and
the overall equivalent stress in the substrate begins to decrease.
For the graded substrate, failure will occur at the knee of the
gradient as shown in Fig. 5, regardless of the coating thickness.
Therefore, the normalized critical applied stress will initially in-
Fig. 7 Critical applied contact stress as a function of coating
thickness „ f Ä0.1…
Fig. 8 Calculated effective stress in coatingÕsubstrate system
with normalized graded and ungraded substrate yield strength
superimposed „ t Õ R Ä0.1, f Ä0.1…
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crease rapidly with normalized coating thickness as the peak of
the equivalent stress curve moves toward the interface 共the initial
yield point is on the steep portion of this curve兲. Once the peak of
the equivalent stress curve moves into the coating (t/R⬎0.7) the
rate of increase in P crit /H DLC will diminish for the graded sub-
strate. Figure 7 indicates that the graded substrate results in an
increase in P crit of 3–12 times over the ungraded substrate for the
DLC system under study.
Thus, a twofold effect is produced by using a substrate with a
gradient in yield strength: 共i兲 yielding initiation is moved into the
substrate away from the coating/substrate interface and 共ii兲 thicker
coatings can be used. These effects result in a greater load carry-
ing capacity and extension of the lifetime of the tribological
system.
Effect of Friction Coefficient on Initial Yielding Behavior.
Equivalent stress calculations were also conducted for different
values of friction coefficient ( f ⫽0, 0.25, and 0.50兲. It is well
documented that due to the distortion of the equivalent stress con-
tour under a higher friction coefficient, the maximum equivalent
stress profile does not coincide with the central line 共z-axis兲. This
is illustrated in Fig. 9, which shows the equivalent stress distribu-
tion at different depths (z/a) along different horizontal locations
(x/a) for f ⫽0.25. Clearly, the peak value is no longer on the line
x/a⫽0, as it is for very low friction coefficients. The profiles of
the equivalent stress were plotted along the x-direction for various
depths within the substrate for values of f ⫽0, 0.25, and 0.5. The
maximum value of equivalent stress and its corresponding devia-
tion from the z-axis were obtained and plotted with respect to
depth. The initial yield location was determined by comparing the
maximum equivalent stress profile versus depth and the yield
strength profile of the graded layer at the value of x/a where the
equivalent stress is a maximum.
The influence of the friction coefficient on the initial yielding
location is then shown in Fig. 10 for the graded and ungraded
substrates. As previously shown the location of initial yield for the
ungraded substrate follows the location of the peak equivalent
stress. Under the effects of friction, this point moves from the
Fig. 9 Distribution of equivalent stress at various depth in the
substrate with larger friction coefficient „ t Õ R Ä0.07, f Ä0.25…
Fig. 10 The effect of friction on the location of substrate initial
yielding point
APRIL 2000, Vol. 122 Õ 385
 centerline of contact (x/a⫽0) towards the direction of the applied
frictional force and closer to the interface as the frictional force
increases. This is not so for an appropriately designed graded
substrate. As was previously shown, the location of initial yield
for the graded substrate occurs at the knee of the yield strength
profile. As Fig. 10 indicates, under the effects of friction, this
point moves from the centerline of contact (x/a⫽0) toward the
direction of the applied frictional force, but remains at the same
depth (z/a⫽1.3). This is due to the fact that the yield strength
gradient is independent of horizontal location (x/a) in the half-
space. Thus failure occurs at the knee of the profile (z/a⫽1.3),
but moves to the x/a location corresponding to the maximum
equivalent stress. Fig. 12 Linear gradient in substrate elastic modulus „coating
elastic modulus, E c Ä433 GPa…
Influence of CoatingÕSubstrate Elastic Modulus Ratio. The
coating/substrate modulus ratio was also varied to study its effect
on the initial yielding behavior of the substrate. In fact, large
variations in Young’s modulus of DLC coatings 共from ⬍100 GPa
up to ⬎500 GPa兲 have been observed due to different fraction of
sp 3 and sp 2 bonding in the DLC structure 关26兴.
Figure 11 presents the effect of elastic modulus ratio, E c /E s ,
(E c and E s are the elastic moduli of the coating and substrate,
respectively兲 on the normalized initial yielding point for both the
graded and ungraded substrate yield strength, and for a coating
thickness of t/R⫽0.01. This figure indicates that for the ungraded
substrate high ratios of elastic modulus shift the initial yielding
point closer to the coating/substrate interface. A relatively high
elastic modulus of the coating increases the deflection difference
between the coating and substrate and as a result creates a high Fig. 13 Equivalent stress profile at centerline for graded elas-
stress concentration in the region near the coating/substrate inter- tic modulus versus ungraded elastic modulus „ f Ä0.1, t Õ R
face. Thus, in the case of a high modulus ratio, yielding of the Ä0.02…
ungraded substrate initiates in the region near the coating/
substrate interface. For the case of the graded substrate yield
strength, an increase in the elastic modulus ratio still creates a Ti–6Al–4V alloy兲 and exhibiting a linear variation in the elastic
high stress concentration in the region near the coating/substrate modulus. A hard coating (E c /E s ⫽4, t/R⫽0.02) is deposited on
interface. However, due to the steep yield strength gradient, initial top of the gradient layer. The variation of the elastic modulus in
yielding of the substrate still occurs at the knee of the yield the substrate for this multilayer system is depicted graphically in
strength curve and is independent of the elastic modulus ratio. Fig. 12. This material property curve is approximated within the
Therefore, for the graded substrate, initial yield occurs at z o /a FE code using discrete layers of elements with discontinuities
⫽1.3 for all elastic modulus ratios which is far deeper in the between layers. However, the FE solutions are based upon aver-
substrate than the ungraded case. age properties between adjacent layers, thus having a smoothing
effect 共not discontinuous兲 on the stress profile. This is the desired
Effect of Gradient in Elastic Modulus on the Stress Distri- effect as it more closely approximates the linear variation of elas-
bution. Multilayers possess high potential in advanced tribo- tic modulus with depth shown in Fig. 12.
logical systems since they can improve the adherence between a Figure 13 presents the equivalent stress distribution along the
hard coating and its substrate 关27–29兴. An innovative concept is centerline of the contact region for a system with and without a
to develop a gradient in the elastic modulus that can be produced gradient in the elastic modulus ( f ⫽0.1, t/R⫽0.02). For the un-
by depositing thin layers of different composition or different graded substrate, the equivalent stress on the contact surface is
thickness creating a graded composite layer. In this study, a gra- dramatically increased due to high stress concentration. Further, a
dient composite is assumed to be constructed of eight layers 共the larger discontinuity in stress at the coating/graded layer interface
thickness of each layer is a兲 deposited on a soft substrate 共e.g., exists. Thus, under this condition, degradation more than likely
will occur either on the coating surface by crack initiation, propa-
gation through the thickness of the coating or by delamination
from the substrate. Meanwhile, yielding may occur within the
substrate, which may accelerate the deflection and failure of the
hard coating.
In the case of the graded substrate, the calculated equivalent
stress on the contact surface is significantly decreased due to the
uniform distribution of the elastic modulus across the coating/
substrate region. Also, a slight reduction in the maximum value of
equivalent stress within the substrate is observed. Thus, if a modu-
lus gradient is developed in the substrate, yielding can be re-
stricted or even avoided at the location of maximum equivalent
stress. In brief, a more uniform stress distribution develops in the
coating/substrate region in the presence of gradient in elastic
modulus.

4 Conclusions
Fig. 11 The effect of coatingÕsubstrate elastic modulus ratio
„ E c Õ E s … on the location of substrate initial yielding point „ f The initial yielding behavior of a coating/functionally graded
Ä0.1 and t Õ R Ä0.01… substrate system under indentation and friction was investigated

386 Õ Vol. 122, APRIL 2000 Transactions of the ASME

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 by finite element modeling. The model system that was investi-
gated involved a thin hard DLC film deposited on a soft substrate
such as Ti–6Al–4V alloy. The effects of a graded substrate yield
strength and a graded substrate elastic modulus were quantified as
compared to a nongraded system. The results clearly show distinct
benefits by a functional gradient in yield strength and/or in elastic
modulus of the substrate to the reliability of coated systems. In
particular, an appropriate gradient in substrate yield strength re-
sulted in initial yielding at applied contact pressures of 3–12
times those of the ungraded substrate depending upon coating
thickness. Further an appropriate gradient in substrate yield
strength resulted in initial yielding at substrate depths of at least
twice those for the ungraded substrate. It was also demonstrated
that the location of initial yielding (z o /a) in the graded substrate
is largely independent of the coating thickness, friction coeffi-
cient, and elastic modulus ratio (E o /E s ). Therefore, the initial
yield point remains well below the coating/substrate interface, de-
creasing the possibility of coating delamination due to excessive
strain at this interface. This is a distinct benefit over ungraded
substrate systems where the initial yield point moves closer to the
coating/substrate interface with increases in the same properties.
Finally, development of a multilayer system producing a linear
gradient in the substrate elastic modulus resulted in a dramatic
reduction in equivalent stress on the contact surface as compared
to the ungraded case. These results show a distinct benefit to the
durability of coated systems when using a substrate with function-
ally graded properties.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Army Research Office 共Grant
Number: DAAG55-98-1-0279兲, the Louisiana Board of Regents,
and CAMD.
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