A tribological study of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films prepared by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique

摘要

In this study, a series of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films (ta-C) were deposited on silicon, W18Cr4V high-speed and Cr18Ni9 stainless steel substrates respectively by using pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc system with a MEVVA source, and ta-C film's tribological properties, including the structure, mechanical performance, adhesion, friction and wear character, were investigated. The results show: the hardness and elastic modulus of ta-C film on a high-speed substrate were reached to 76 and 453 Gpa, respectively; and the effects of substrate and film thickness on ta-C film's friction coefficients have been studied as well; moreover, the corresponding adhesion damage mechanism and wear damage mechanism have been investigated, respectively. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.