Influences on the tribological behaviour of slip-rolling DLC-coatings

Until now, the results reveal that a large scatter in lifetime of coatings occurs not only between samples of different coaters but also between the samples of one single batch. The highest lifetime reached by a DLC-coating under these testing conditions is 10 × 106 cycles. That is the highest life time for a coating tested under the testing conditions above in our laboratory so far. The following factors were identified to influence the life time of the coatings: coating thickness, interlayer type, topography of the coatings, counter body roughness and mechanical properties. But the most important factor determining the life time of the coatings is that the coating process does produce homogenous layers free of faults.