Characteristics of diamond-like carbon film synthesized on AISI 304 austenite stainless steel using plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition

Abstract

This study examines the characteristics of diamond-like carbon (DLC) film synthesized on AISI 304 austenite stainless steel by means of a hybrid process of plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIII&D) maintained at 60°C. The former and latter processes under investigation were carried out using methane (0–20kV) and acetylene (1–2kV, 0.13–0.40Pa) plasmas, respectively. Glow discharge spectrometry (GDS), Raman scattering spectroscopy (RSS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), a nano-indentation probe (NIP) and a Rockwell-C hardness tester were employed to characterize, respectively, elemental depth profiles, sp3-to-sp2 ratio, surface morphology, hardness and adhesion strength of the DLC specimen. The results revealed that the mixing layer at the interface generated by plasma immersion ion implantation of methane at a higher voltage could enhance adhesive strength of the DLC film to the substrate. Furthermore, a higher sp3-to-sp2 ratio, a smoother surface, greater hardness, but weaker adhesion strength were obtained for the DLC film synthesized using plasma immersion ion deposition of acetylene at a lower bias voltage or higher gas pressure.