Abstract
This paper presents a Raman spectroscopy study of the influence of methane flow on the micro-tribological behavior of diamond-like carbon coatings deposited with an industrial plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. Results have shown a direct relationship between the methane flow and thickness of the coatings. The analysis of the Raman spectra and deposition parameters allowed establishing the influence of H content with the methane flow, the disorder level and estimation of the sp3 fraction on the carbon coatings. The micro-tribology tests showed a strong dependence of the wear resistance and hardness with Raman parameters. The coating deposited at 72-sccm methane flow presented a thickness of 1.7 µm and a sp3 fraction of 0.33. This sp3 fraction gave rise to a hardness of 24 GPa and an excellent wear resistance of 3.3 × 10–6 mm3 N−1 mm−1 for this DLC coating. Wear tests showed a swelling in the wear profiles on this coating, which was associated with the occurrence of a re-hybridization process.
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Acknowledgements
This research was possible, thanks to the economic support of the CONACYT with project number 240721: “ForteCarbono.” FJFR acknowledge the support from FOINS-CONACYT Project 2016-01-2488, and the VIEP-BUAP-2020 Project.
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This research was possible, thanks to the economic support of the national council of science and technology of México (CONACYT).
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Rivera-Tello, C.D., Flores-Ruiz, F.J., Flores, M. et al. Study of the methane flow influence in the micro-tribology behavior of DLC coatings deposited by PECVD: a Raman analysis. Carbon Lett. 31, 47–56 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-020-00148-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-020-00148-8