Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8025227 | Surface and Coatings Technology | 2016 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings are deposited by a hybrid process involving plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) and pulsed direct-current (DC) magnetron sputtering on three different elastomer substrates, namely, nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), fluoroelastomer (FKM) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), under self-biased conditions. These DLC coatings and the corresponding elastomer substrates are characterized using confocal optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and a contact angle goniometer. Tribological tests are performed using ball-on-disc configuration at a fixed load of 1Â N under ambient conditions. Friction reduction after deposition of DLC coatings is highly effective in NBR (56.4%), followed by that in FKM (49.8%) and TPU (28.8%) substrates. Best wear resistance was shown by DLC-coated FKM, which was followed by DLC-coated NBR and TPU. Transfer film formation is believed to be the main tribological mechanism favoring better frictional properties of DLC-coated elastomers. This study elucidates the possible reasons for the differing frictional and wear performance of the three different DLC-coated elastomers under consideration.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Authors
S. Thirumalai, A. Hausberger, J.M. Lackner, W. Waldhauser, Th. Schwarz,