Probing Tribological Behaviors of Cr-DLC in Corrosion Solution by Tailoring Sliding Interface

Abstract

Friction pairs are regarded significantly as one unified system to avert excessive energy and material loss caused by friction in harsh environment taking into account of its complicated physical and chemical process in the friction interface. Here, we carried out the experiment of Cr-doped diamond-like carbon (Cr-DLC) sliding against different counterparts in hydrochloric acid (HCl) in order to find a better solution for the tribocorrosion failure of Cr-DLC in harsh environment. The results indicated that the material of counterparts and interfacial tribochemical products had significant impact on the friction behavior of Cr-DLC. The friction coefficients of Cr-DLC sliding against different counterparts were highly dependent with the associated Hertzian contact radius calculated by the Hertzian contact theory, while the wear rates were related to the interfacial tribochemical products in HCl. Moreover, the hardness ratio and the elastic energy density of friction pair were introduced to analysis the wear behavior of Cr-DLC film sliding against mated materials. All of the results indicated that the Cr-DLC film sliding against tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) showed the most outstanding tribological performance. Understanding the fundamental mechanism of Cr-DLC film sliding against different counterpart materials would expand the practical application of Cr-DLC thin film in corrosive environment.