• Transactions of the Society of Information Storage Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.129-134
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• 2007

Boron nitride (BN) is a highly attractive material for wear resistant applications of mechanical components. BN is super hard and it is the second hardest of all known materials. It also has a high thermal stability, high abrasive wear resistance, and in contrast to diamond, BN does not react with ferrous materials. The motivation of this work is to investigate the tribological properties of BN for potential applications in ultra-precision components for data storage, printing, and other precision devices. In this work, the wear characteristics of BN thin films deposited on DLC or Ti buffer layer with silicon substrate using RF-magnetron sputtering technique were analyzed. Wear tests were conducted by using a pin-on-disk type tester and the wear tracks were measured with a surface profiler. Experimental results showed that wear characteristics were dependent on the sputtering conditions and buffer layer. Particularly, BN coated on DLC layer showed better wear resistant behavior. The range of the wear rates for the BN films tested in this work was about 20 to $100{\mu}m^3$/cycle.