Ultrafast Deposition of Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) Based on a Hollow Cathode Discharge for Protective Applications
(Room Room 104-B)
29 Apr 19
1:40 PM
-
2:00 PM
Tracks:
Protective, Tribological and Decorative Coatings
Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) has become one of the most important coatings in the Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) industry due to its chemical inertness, hardness and low coefficient of friction. For mass production, these coatings are usually produced in large batch coaters with PVD interlayers for adhesion and load absorption with a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) DLC layer on top. Typical cycle times for such a batch system are on the order of 6-9 hours. Such systems are also limited to line of sight processes which make the coating of 3D geometrical parts, such as those with holes or cavities, difficult. A hollow cathode deposition technology has been developed for the deposition of DLC (a-C:H) with a complete door to door cycle time of less than 30 minutes for a 2-3 μm DLC coating. DLC deposition rates of 0.5 to 1 μm per minute can be achieved. Parts with aspect ratios of 15:1 (length:diameter) can be coated with thicknesses from 2-100 μm. Doped DLC’s such as SiC and GeC can also be deposited. Suitable substrates are aluminum, titanium and steel alloys. The deposition process as well as resulting coating properties such as corrosion and erosion resistance as well as lubricity will be discussed.