Thickness evaluation of the carbon coatings manufactured on magnesium alloys using optical profiler

One of the problems in identification of carbon nanocoatings is measurement of their thickness. There are a lot of methods which allow for determination of thickness i.e. SEM analysis of cross section of sample with manufactured coating, nanoindentation analysis with using DSP (Digital Signal Processing) method, roughness analysis with using different kind of profilers. In this paper the technology of manufacturing of carbon coatings on AZ31 magnesium light alloy has been depicted and optical profiler has been used for thickness evaluation of these coating. Obtained results allowed for precise estimation of manufactured carbon coatings thickness. In this way it was also possible to compare obtained thickness results with thickness evaluated by other methods.