Lubrication improvement and friction reduction of DLC‐coated sliding surfaces by in‐process structuring and post polishing

Abstract

The paper describes an experimental investigation on the infl uence of the surface roughness of diamond-like hard carbon (DLC) coatings on the friction and wear in sliding contact against steel under conditions of starving lubrication. Experimental studies employed a reciprocating ball-on-fl at tribometer in two different modes of operation. The study showed a microlubrication effect in terms of lubrication assistance achieved by microscopic cavities in the topography of a DLC coating and good sliding behaviour even in the case of starving oil lubrication. Post-process polishing of the coated surfaces was adopted for eliminating unnecessary friction losses due to asperity interactions and micro-abrasive wear.

Ultrathin undoped tetrahedral amorphous carbon films: The role of the underlying titanium layer on the electronic structure

“…Coatings of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) have been widely studied for the last thirty years due to their excellent mechanical and protective properties together with biocompatibility [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Development and scaling of the coating technology resulted commercial application of ta-C as wear resistance [11] and load-bearing biomedical layers [12][13][14].…”