A hard carbon film that forms a sliding surface of a sliding member, wherein the hard carbon film includes terminal atoms that bond to carbon atoms and has a plurality of protruding shaped parts, part of which protrude from the surface thereof, with the periphery of each of the plurality of protruding shaped parts being terminated by a terminal atom. A manufacturing method for the hard carbon film for producing the hard carbon film on a sliding surface of the sliding member using arc vapor deposition having graphite as the vaporization source, wherein a gas containing the terminal atoms that bond to carbon atoms is introduced, and the plurality of protruding shaped parts is grown on the surface of the hard carbon film while terminating the periphery of the plurality of protruding shaped parts by bonding of the terminal atoms to carbon atoms.

In a method for coating on a surface of a medical PEEK material with titanium to have a microporous structure, titanium is coated on a surface of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) via magnetron sputtering. The surface of the titanium coated on the surface of PEEK is polished via an electromagnetic polishing apparatus. A thin-film with titanium dioxide (TiO.sub.2) having a microporous structure is formed on the polished surface of the titanium via an anodic oxidation treatment.

A coating comprising a bottom layer comprising a hard physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating applied to the end mill. The bottom layer has an edge-prep and polished top surface with reoriented cutting forces. The coating includes a top layer comprising a friction reducing coating applied to the top surface of the bottom layer to prevent or minimize titanium or titanium alloy adhesion to the end mill during milling operations of a metal object comprising the titanium or titanium alloy. The coating has a chemical composition which has inertness toward titanium or titanium alloy. A cutter tool and method are also provided.

Oxide coatings that reduce or eliminate the appearance of thin film interference coloring are described. In some embodiments, the oxide coatings are configured to reduce the appearance of fingerprints. In some cases, the oxide coatings are sufficiently thick to increase the optical path difference of incident light, thereby reducing any inference coloring by the fingerprint to a non-visible level. In some embodiments, the oxide coatings have a non-uniform thickness that changes the way light reflects off of interfaces of the oxide coating, thereby reducing or eliminating any thin film interference coloring caused by the oxide coatings themselves or by a fingerprint.

A bonded body includes a supporting substrate; a piezoelectric material substrate composed of a material selected from the group consisting of lithium niobate, lithium tantalate and lithium niobate-lithium tantalate; and a bonding layer bonding the supporting substrate and the piezoelectric material substrate and contacting a main surface of the piezoelectric material substrate. The bonding layer includes a void extending from the piezoelectric material substrate toward the supporting substrate. A ratio (t2/t1) of a width t2 at an end of the void on a side of the supporting substrate with respect to a width t1 at an end of the void on a side of the piezoelectric material substrate is 0.8 or lower.

A housing for an electronic device can include a metallic component at least partially defining an external surface of the device. The metallic component can have an average grain size less than 45 nanometers in a first region that extends from the external surface to a depth of at least 100 microns below the external surface, and an average grain size greater than 45 nanometers in a second region adjacent to the first surface.

Method for producing a thermal barrier system on a metal substrate (1) of a turbo engine part, such as a high-pressure turbine blade, the thermal barrier system comprising at least one columnar ceramic layer (31, . . . , 3i, . . . , 3n), characterised in that the method comprises a step of compressing at least one of said at least one columnar ceramic layer (31, . . . 3i, . . . , 3n).

A metallic structure includes a first plurality of metal particles arranged in an amorphous structure; a second plurality of metal particles arranged in a crystalline structure having at least two grain sizes, wherein the crystalline structure is arranged to receive the amorphous structure deposited thereon; wherein the grain size is arranged in a gradient structure.

A valve for an internal-combustion engine may include a body. The body may include a titanium alloy. At least one region of the body may include a nitrided layer. The nitrided layer may include at least one of titanium nitrides and aluminium-titanium nitrides.

Electrochromic devices are fabricated using a particle removal operation that reduces the occurrence of electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, the particle removal operation is not a lithiation operation. In some embodiments, the particle removal operation is performed at an intermediate stage during the deposition of either an electrochromic layer or a counter electrode layer.