Study on preparation and anti-sand erosion performance of thick DLC coating combined with FCVA deposition and HVP technology

Abstract

To address the compatibility issues between the hardness and thickness of DLC coatings and to improve the erosion resistance of engine blades, a thick DLC coating was prepared using a combination of filter cathode vacuum arc (FCVA) deposition technology and high voltage pulse (HVP) technology. The prepared thick DLC coating exhibits low residual stress (1.79 ± 0.087 GPa) and high C-sp3 content (70.13 %), with a thickness and hardness of 18.46 μm and 51.07 ± 0.23 GPa, respectively. The results of anti-sand erosion tests indicate that the mass loss rates of DLC coating at the erosion angles of 45° and 90° are 4.44 × 10−3 mg/g and 1.99 × 10−2 mg/g, respectively. The good erosion resistance of thick DLC coatings is attributed to the consumption of residual impact energy by carbon cluster structures, which prevents the generation and propagation of cracks. Therefore, the thick and super-hard DLC coatings can be prepared by combining FCVA deposition technique with HVP technique, which has great potential applications in the aerospace industry.