The Effect of Sandblasting of UHMWPE Substrate on the Wear Resistance of Hydrogen-Containing Carbon Coating

Abstract

Surface asperities were made on the surface of UHMWPE by sandblasting with sodium hydrogen carbonate abrasive in order to enhance the adhesion of hydrogen-containing carbon (HCC) coating to substrate. Sodium hydrogen carbonate abrasive was used because it easily solutes in hot water and the blasted abrasive stuck into the surface of UHMWPE can be entirely removed by washing with hot water. The HCC coating was deposited on the polished UHMWPE substrate and blasted substrate by RF-plasma CVD method. Friction test was conducted with the ball-on-disk tribometer in the distilled water. As the results of SEM observation and Raman spectroscopy analysis of the friction track on the HCC coating, it was confirmed that a substantial quantity of HCC coating deposited on the blasted substrate was remained on the friction track as compared with the polished substrate. It is concluded that the appropriate blasting treatment of UHMWPE substrate enhances the adhesiveness of the HCC coating to the substrate and improves wear resistance of HCC coating.

Keywords

• hydrogen-containing carbon coating
• uhmwpe
• adhesion
• surface asperity
• sandblasting
• sodium hydrogen carbonate abrasive