Detailed study of structural, mechanical and tribological characteristics of ~100 nm sized carbon particles embedded amorphous carbon coatings

This article presents the study of ~100 nm sized isolated carbon particles embedded amorphous carbon (a-C) coatings. The isolated carbon particles are in-situ created simultaneous to a-C coatings deposition by plasma quenching and embedded at controlled depth in various amounts. To understand the relationship between particles quantity and a-C coating properties, a series of a-C coatings are prepared in which ~100 nm sized carbon nanoparticles are embedded from 1 to 6-layers of particles in amorphous carbon matrix of 335 nm confined thickness. A 21% increase in hardness with a 55% decrease in wear rate has observed. Furthermore, the baseline a-C coating fails during run-in phase while the 1-layer sample lasts up to 7000 cycles at high contact stress of 2.8 GPa (60 N).