Here we report on the structural and tribo-mechanical characterization of epitaxial single-crystalline Ti 2 AlC MAX phase thin films, grown by means of electron beam physical vapor deposition at relatively low temperature (700°C). The growth of phase pure Ti 2 AlC at a relatively lower temperature when compared to other PVD methods was achieved utilizing a relatively low deposition rate and layer-by-layer deposition technique. The epitaxial growth is evidenced through the combination of XRD, HR-TEM and Raman spectroscopy measurements. The nanomechanical and micro-scale tribo-logical properties of the Ti 2 AlC thin films were studied by means of nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests.
