Effect of Hardness of Mating Materials on DLC Tribological Characteristics

Diamond-like Carbon(DLC) films were deposited on Si wafers by an RF-plasma-assisted CVD using CH$_4$gas. Tribological tests were conducted with the use of a rotating type ball on a disk friction tester with dry air. This study made use of four kinds of mating balls that were made with stainless steel but subjected to different annealing conditions in order to achieve different levels of hardness. In all load conditions, testing results demonstrated that the harder the mating materials, the lower the friction coefficient was. The friction coefficients were fecund to be lower with austenite mating balls than with fully annealed martensite balls. Conversely, the high friction coefficient found in soft martensite balls appeared to be caused by the larger contact area between the DLC film and the ball. The wear tracks on DLC films and mating balls could prove that effect. Measuring the wear track of both DLC films and mating balls revealed a similar tendency compared to the results of friction coefficients. The wear rate of austenite balls was also less than that of fully annealed martensite balls. Friction eoefficients decrease when applied leads exceed critical amount. The wear track on mating balls showed that a certain amount of material transfer occurs from the DLC film to the mating ball during a high friction process. Raman Spectra analysis Showed that the transferred materials were a kind of graphite and that the contact surface of the DLC film seemed to undergo a phase transition from carbon to graphite during the high friction process.