Study On The Sand Erosion Behavior Of TiO₂ Thin Films

TiO₂ nano film has many unique physical and chemical properties.In recent years,more and more researches have been applied in the fields of photocatalysis,solar energy and self-cleaning.However,there were few studies on the interfacial structure and mechanical properties of TiO₂ nano films,which have important influence on its application.For coated with TiO₂ nano film solar panels and glass materials,it was used in outdoor harsh environment in long term.It will be subject to erosion and wear,in the central and western regions of Inner Mongolia and other northern regions especially.That will shorten the service life of titanium dioxide nano film.Therefore,it is great significance to study the erosion wear behavior and failure behavior of TiO₂ films under wind-sand environment.It reveals that the erosion mechanism of TiO₂ film,its durability and the improvement of its durability.In this paper,TiO₂ thin films with one,three or five layers were prepared on a glass surface using the sol gel method.The effect of TiO₂ films on the resistance of sand erosion of the glass substrate surface studied.The effect of heat treatment on phase composition of TiO₂ thin films was studied systematically,by using the transform infrared light spectrograph fourier?FT-IR?,x-ray diffraction?XRD?and other analytical test methods.The results showed that the TiO₂ crystal was existed in amorphous at 300 °C.As the temperature was raised to 500 °C,the amorphous phase was gradually replaced by anatase phase.The thicknesses of one,three,five layers TiO₂ films were measured by ellipsometry and glow discharge spectrometer.The results showed that with the increase of the number of layers,the thickness of the thin films increased gradually.TiO₂ thin films were eroded by sand-air injection.The actual wind-sand environment was simulated by controlling the velocity of wind-sand,dose of sand and angle erosion,etc.Erosive wear,erosion behavior and erosion mechanism in the sandstorm were characterized by scanning electron microscope?SEM?.And the characteristics of the film material against the sand erosion were evaluated by mass loss method.The results showed that the films are greatly abrased with increased of the erosion speed and dose of sand.With increased of film layers,the erosion resistance and wear resistance of the TiO₂ films were increased gradually.The erosion mechanism is that the film is damaged mainly from cutting action of micro-scratches in low angle erosion.Instead of high angle erosion,the damage of the material is produced mainly from squeeze deformation under the action of erosion.Because of the high strength and toughness of TiO₂ thin films,the erosion-wear of its coating at high erosion angle is more severe than at low erosion angle.The simulation of the sand erosion process of Ti O₂ films and calculation of sand erosion rate were using by the flunet software.The calculated results were compared with the experimental data.The results showed that there are errors between the experimental data and the simulated data,but the trend of the data was the same,and the error can be accepted.