Wear Behavior of W-DLC Coating Under Reciprocating Sliding Motion

Tungsten containing diamond like coatings have been used to improve reliability and durability of rubbing surfaces, thus their degradation becomes critical to predict component life. The gradual wear of such coatings is studied in this work using a high frequency reciprocating rig with the ball (coated)-flat configuration. In order to study the relationship between wear behavior and coating properties, two deposition recipes are used to deposit coatings on steel balls and these specimens have been tested in an interrupted manner under the same loading, frequency, and lubrication conditions. The coating wear quantified by measuring the wear scar on the balls with a surface profilometer shows nonlinear relationship with sliding distance. Recipe B with more Tungsten content in the top layer has better wear resistance.