Influence of Load on Corrosion and Wear Properties for Amorphous Carbon-Based Films

Abstract

Power components under corrosive environmental conditions are subjected to the double damage of corrosion and wear, and the reciprocating action of the load makes the passivation layer on the metal surface fail and accelerates the damage. Amorphous carbon-based films show the excellent protection in the areas of corrosion and friction. For studying the effect of load on the corrosion and wear properties of amorphous carbon-based thin films, and clarifying the relationship of the each loss component with the change of the load, thin films of a-C, a-C:Cr and a-C:Si were prepared on the surface of 304 stainless steel by magnetron sputtering. Meanwhile, the static corrosion behavior of three films under 5.0 mol/L HNO3 was tested by kinetic potential polarization, and the effect of load on each component of the corrosion friction process was also analyzed and studied by combining the wear amounts of the three films under different loads in deionized water and 5.0 mol/L HNO3 environments. Results showed that Si doping reduced the corrosion current density of a-C films from 1.11×10-6 A/cm2 to 3.96×10-7 A/cm2, while Cr doping slightly decreased the corrosion current density. As the load increased, the corrosion damage component of the three films decreased and the mechanical wear component increased accordingly, corresponding to a weakening of the damage effect on the films due to the corrosion-wear interaction.

Keywords

• amorphous carbon-based films; corrosion friction; corrosion-wear; load; nitric acid