Effects of thickness and cycle parameters on fretting wear behavior of CVD diamond coatings on steel substrates

• Published in: Surface & coatings technology Vol. 205; no. 1; pp. 158 - 167
• Main Authors: Wei, Qiuping, Yu, Z.M., Ashfold, Michael N.R., Chen, Z., Wang, L., Ma, L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.09.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adhesive wear; Applied sciences; Chemical vapor deposition; Coatings; Contact of materials. Friction. Wear; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; CVD diamond films; Diamond films; Exact sciences and technology; Filaments; Fretting; Fretting wear; Interlayer; Materials science; Mechanical properties and methods of testing. Rheology. Fracture mechanics. Tribology; Metals. Metallurgy; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Nonmetallic coatings; Physics; Production techniques; Reciprocating; Steel substrates; Steels; Surface treatment; Surface treatments; Wear tests; CVD diamond films; Steel substrates; Interlayer; Fretting wear; Interfacial layer; Diamonds; Mechanical properties; Surface treatments; Non metal coating; Thin films; CVD; Thickness; Wear; Steels; Tribology
• ISSN: 0257-8972; 1879-3347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2010.06.026

Diamond films have been grown on carbon steel substrates by hot filament chemical vapour deposition (CVD) methods. A Co-containing tungsten-carbide coating prepared by high velocity oxy-fuel spraying was used as an intermediate layer on the steel substrates to minimize the early formation of graphite (and thus growth of low quality diamond films) and to enhance the diamond film adhesion. The effects of thickness and cycle parameters on adhesion, tribological behaviour and electrochemical treatment of the diamond film were investigated. The diamond films exhibit excellent adhesion under Rockwell indentation testing (1500 N load) and in high-speed, high-load, long-time reciprocating dry sliding ball-on-flat wear tests against a Si 3N 4 counterface in ambient air (500 rpm, 200 N, 300000 cycles). Time modulated CVD (wherein the CH 4 fraction in the process gas mixture is cycled in time) is shown to yield diamond films offering an exceptional combination of low friction, high hardness, high wear resistance, as well as promising corrosion resistance.