A 200nm thick glass-forming metallic film for fatigue-property enhancements

Abstract

In this letter, we report the fatigue-property enhancement by a thin layer of glass-forming film. The fatigue life of a 316L stainless steel is considerably improved by at least 30 times, depending on the maximum applied stress when it is coated with a $200\mathrm{nm}$ thick ${\mathrm{Zr}}_{47}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{31}{\mathrm{Al}}_{13}{\mathrm{Ni}}_9$ film. The application of the sputtered film yields an increase of the fatigue limit by 30%. The smooth surface, good adhesion, and compressive residual stress are found to play beneficial roles in achieving superior fatigue properties, revealing the glass-forming film as a potential material to enhance fatigue properties.