Hot filament CVD diamond coating of TiC sliders

Hot filament chemical vapour deposition (HF CVD) process with low filament temperature (∼ 1650 °C) was utilized for the diamond coating of TiC samples. Porous substrates were fabricated by pulse discharge sintering (PDS) to create more nucleation sites. Nucleation density and morphology of deposited diamond films were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the highest growth rate occurs at substrate temperature of 980 °C. Evaluation of the residual stress in deposited films was carried out by Raman spectroscopy. Ball on disk tests were performed with steel as a counterface material. After polishing diamond films demonstrated good sliding performance: friction coefficient of 0.08 and wear rate of 10− 17 m3/N m.