Achieving ultra‐low friction of a‐C:H film grown on 9Cr18Mo steel for industrial application via programmable high power pulse magnetron sputtering. (13th October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sun, Lei; Jia, Qian; Zhang, Bin; Gao, Kaixiong; Tan, Xin; Lai, Zhenguo; Zhang, Junyan
• Is Part Of: Surface and interface analysis. Volume 54:Number 2(2022)
• Page Start: 81
• Page End: 91
• Publication Date: 2021-10-13
• Subjects: amorphous carbon film -- steel surface -- ultra‐low friction -- wear; Surfaces (Physics) -- Periodicals; Surface chemistry -- Periodicals; Thin films -- Periodicals; 541.33
• DOI: 10.1002/sia.7022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-2421

Abstract

Abstract : Owing to the high hardness and hydrogen passivation of carbon bonds, hydrogenated diamond‐like carbon (a‐C:H) film has shown promising potential to achieve ultra‐low friction and wear on steel surfaces. Here, a‐C:H film was successfully deposited on 9Cr18Mo steel via programmable high power pulse magnetron sputtering and potential application for industrial was evaluated. The a‐C:H films against different mating materials of GCr15 steel balls, Al2 O3, Si3 N4, ZrO2, and a‐C:H‐coated GCr15 balls all showed ultra‐low friction under a normal load of 5 N in a dry ambient air environment. Among them, self‐mating tribo‐system a‐C:H films on steel surfaces and a‐C:H‐coated steel balls achieve best friction performance; the principal reason is that both contacting surfaces coated with a‐C:H film have the lower electron affinities compared with other tribo‐systems. However, the differences of coefficient of friction (COF) for uncoated‐GCr15, Al2 O3, ZrO2, Si3 N4, and a‐C:H(GCr15) balls can be attributed to different sizes of clustering in wear debris. This work provides new insights on synthesis and industry application of the a‐C:H films with ultra‐low friction properties.