Evaluation of DLC-Si Film Damage due to Friction under ATF Lubricated Condition

Abstract

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating technology has been receiving increasing attention in recent years for its application to automotive sliding parts. As it is critical to evaluate the adhesion strength between a film and a substrate for assessment of the reliability of DLC films, a practical method to assess film damage under repeated sliding motions is needed. This research clarified the conditions under which damage is generated on Si-containing DLC films by analyzing damage modes such as wear, spalling, and cracking of the films under an automatic transmission fluid (ATF) lubrication condition and repeated sliding friction. The research also confirmed the effectiveness of the evaluation method. The test results indicated that the Si-containing DLC film has the highest reliability compared to the other types of films tested using the same test method.

Keywords

• dc-pacvd
• si-containing diamond-like carbon (dlc-si)
• spalling
• wear
• crack
• atf
• ss