Controlling the performance of structures and components of all sizes and shapes through the use of engineered coatings has long been a key strategy in materials processing and technological design. The ever-increasing sophistication of en- neered coatings and the rapid trend toward producing increasingly smaller devices with greater demands on their fabrication, properties and performance have led to signi?cant progress in the science and technology of coatings, particularly in the last decade or two. Nanostructured coatings constitute a major area of sci- ti?c exploration and technological pursuit in this development. Withcharacteristic structural length scales on the order of a few nanometers to tens of nanometers, nanostructured coatings provide potential opportunities to enhance dramatically performance by offering, in many situations, extraordinary strength and hardness, unprecedented resistance to damage from tribological contact, and improvements in a number of functional properties. At the same time, there are critical issues and challenges in optimizing these properties with ?aw tolerance, interfacial adhesion and other nonmechanical considerations, depending on the coating systems and applications. Nanostructured coatings demand study in a highly interdisciplinary research arena which encompasses: surface and interface science study of defects modern characterization methodologies cutting-edge experimental developments to deposit,synthesize, conso- date, observe as well as chemically and mechanically probe materials at the atomic and molecular length scales state-of-the-art computational simulation techniques for developing - sightsintomaterialbehaviourattheatomicscalewhichcannotbeobtained in some cases from experiments alone The interdisclipinarynature of the subject has made it a rich playing ?eld for scienti?c innovation and technological progress.

There is a need for materials of exceptional hardness in order to coat mechanical components. One way to do this is take advantage of the properties of nanostructured materials. This book delivers practical insighta into a broad range of fields related to hard coatings, from their deposition and characterization up to the hardening and deformation mechanisms allowing the interpretation of results. In addition to the above-mentioned hardness, this type of coating often must meet other stringent criteria for mechanical properties such as excellent adhesion to the substrate and very high fracture toughness and other requirements. Their use in chemical aggressive environments at very high temperatures demand also very high oxidation/corrosion resistance and thermal stability. Thus, increasing concern is prevalent among researchers in this field concerning the development of coatings that could satisfy simultaneously all the necessary properties to guarantee successful implementation in real mechanical applications.

Galileo Comes to the Surface!.- Size Effects on Deformation and Fracture of Nanostructured Metals.- Defects and Deformation Mechanisms in Nanostructured Coatings.- Nanoindentation in Nanocrystalline Metallic Layers: A Molecular Dynamics Study on Size Effects.- Electron Microscopy Characterization of Nanostructured Coatings.- Measurement of Hardness and Young's Modulus by Nanoindentation.- The Influence of the Addition of a Third Element on the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Transition-Metal-Based Nanostructured Hard Films: Part I-Nitrides.- The Influence of the Addition of a Third Element on the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Transition-Metal-Based Nanostructured Hard Films: Part II-Carbides.- Concept for the Design of Superhard Nanocomposites with High Thermal Stability: Their Preparation, Properties, and Industrial Applications.- Physical and Mechanical Properties of Hard Nanocomposite Films Prepared by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering.- Thermal Stability of Advanced Nanostructured Wear-Resistant Coatings.- Optimization of Nanostructured Tribological Coatings.- Synthesis, Structure, and Properties of Superhard Superlattice Coatings.- Synthesis, Structure, and Applications of Nanoscale Multilayer/Superlattice Structured PVD Coatings.