Effects of Different Counterpart Materials on the Tribological Behaviors of Ta-C Film

Abstract

For studying the changing rules of the tribological properties and the related mechanisms of ta-C film in friction against several typical counterpart materials，a ta-C film with a thickness of approximately 1 μm was deposited by the laser-induced arc magnetic filtered vacuum cathode arc technology，and three kinds of counterpart balls with high hardness (WC，Al2O3 and 9Cr18) were used for friction and wear test.The microstructure and tribological properties of the ta-C film were systematically investigated by scanning electron microscopy，X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy，Raman spectrometer，surface profilometer，nano-indentation tester and ball-disk friction and wear equipment.Results showed that the ta-C film possessed extremely low friction coefficients in friction against all the three counterpart materials，and exhibited excellent antiwear and antifriction properties.When Al2O3 counterpart was employed，the friction coefficient of the film was the lowest with a value of around 0.11；when 9Cr18 counterpart was employed，the film showed the lowest wear rate of 4.0×10-7 mm3/(N·m)；and when WC counterpart was employed，the film showed the highest wear rate of 7.6×10-7 mm3/(N·m). Besides，the main wear mechanism of the film was abrasive wear，and a graphitized transfer film with the characteristics of carbon structure was detected on the surfaces of all the counterparts.

Keywords

• ta-c film；laser-induced arc；transfer film；graphitization；friction and wear