Combined influences of mechanical properties and surface roughness on the tribological properties of amorphous carbon coatings

Carbon films (∼2 μm thick) with a range of mechanical properties and underlying substrate roughnesses were evaluated for delamination and wear under conditions of combined impact and sliding contact. One-side-coated and both-sides-coated titanium alloy pin and disk wear couples were assessed using a custom-made impact/sliding pin-on-disk apparatus in a colloid-based blood volume expansion medium. The normal stress distribution along the film/substrate interface upon impact loading by a smooth titanium alloy pin was modelled analytically for each coated system. For disk surface roughness centre-line average (R_a) values below 0.05 μm, the area of disk film delamination was shown to correlate with the presence of tensile stress at the film/substrate interface. The interfacial tensile stress was shown to occur when there was a film/substrate elastic modulus mismatch, either within or outside the perimeter of contact, depending on the direction of the film modulus deviation. We propose that the tensile stress promotes delamination by lifting the film locally from the substrate. With increased disk R_a, the area of disk coating loss tended to decrease, because the surface roughness improved the mechanical bonding of the composite system.