To date, numerous methods for surface treatment constitute very important industrial processes of widespread use in a variety of engineering applications. A new, promising line of investigation is the use of transition metal cluster compounds to modify surfaces. In this work the use of metal-rich niobium halide cluster compounds with the formula M4[Nb6Cl18] (M = Na, K or Rb) as precursor to achieve pure metallic niobium particles on the surface of a variety of metallic and non-metallic substrates has been investigated. To that effect, the influence on the particle size and morphology of the different deposition and decomposition methods as well as the precursor materials has been studied.
Niobium, like other transition metals, has refractive properties such as high melting point, high hardness and high tensile strength. This niobium coating is intended to modify the properties of the bulk material used as substrate, especially mechanical and thermal properties. Therefore, the hardness increase and the abrasion resistance of the resulting new coating composed of small niobium particles have been tested.