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The Microstructure and Wear Behavior of Cr- and W-DLC Coatings Sputter-Deposited onto AISI 52100 Substrates as Elucidated using Focused-Ion-Beam SEM
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
Abstract
Magnetron sputtering has been used to deposit metal-containing, diamond-like-carbon (Me-DLC) coatings onto substrates composed of AISI 52100 steel in quenched-and-tempered condition. Coatings of two distinctly different compositions, one containing Was the metallic constituent and the second containing Cr, have been deposited in a plasma containing Ar and C2H2.Interrupted, unidirectional sliding experiments of the block-on-ring type have been conducted in a poly-alpha-olefin (PAO) lubricant at a load of 667 N for discrete numbers of cycles, N, of between 10 and 1000. Focused-ion-beam, scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) has been applied to characterize the morphology of as-deposited and worn Me-DLC coatings. This technique has resulted in the determination that the Cr-DLC coating, deposited using the investigated processing parameters, fractures in a brittle manner through the formation and propagation of “tunnel cracks,” which unzip in a direction parallel to the grinding direction outside of the region of contact. Conversely, the application of specific processing parameters to deposit W-DLC produces a coating that wears by gradual recession, consistent with polishing wear. First-principles-based analysis shows that the state of residual stress is critically important in the behavior of the coating.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002
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