Tribological properties and characterization of DLC films deposited by pulsed bias CVD

摘要

The tribological properties of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films in ambient air and aqueous environment were investigated. The films were deposited on the stainless steel substrate by pulsed-bias CVD. The films were severely damaged with the friction in aqueous condition, and micro-cracks were observed on the wear track of DLC film. The multi-layer structure having hard DLC film covered with Si-doping DLC layer induced improvement of tribological properties of films in aqueous condition. The Si-doping DLC layer induced alleviation of the internal stress of film and prevented generation of the micro-cracks. The multi-layer DLC film covered with Si-DLC layer (Si concentration was 7.3 at. percent) proofed against friction test at load of 11.3 N with few partial ruptures, and the friction coefficient was 0.07. Furthermore, it was found that the wear of counter materials was extremely low. The wear rate of a stainless-steel ball was 3.2 X 10~(-9) mm~3/Nm at load of 9.4 N.