Surface modification of diamond-like carbon coatings to control over run-in processes in friction pair

Abstract

The effect of the nanostructure and chemical composition of thin Mo–Se–C films on the run-in of the diamond-like carbon coating (a-C) and the steel counterbody during ball-on-disk sliding test is studied. At the final stage of the deposition of the a-C coating on the steel substrate, a flow of atoms from the MoSe₂ target was added to the flow of atoms being deposited. The influence of the air humidity on the selection of optimum structure and chemical composition of the film, which provide a fairly low (<0.07) coefficient of friction during the entire period of the run-in stage, is considered. In order to explain the effect of the modifying films, analysis of the specific features of the friction-induced changes in the composition of the films during wear debris formation has been carried out using Raman spectroscopy.