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Effects of sp3 bond and modulation ratios on ultra-thin diamond-like carbon coatings using molecular dynamics nanoindentation

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Abstract

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films, which are generally used in the form of protective coatings, have a lot of engineering applications, where they improve surface friction, adhesion, and wear resistance. Hence, it is necessary to understand the correlation between DLC coating parameters and the mechanical properties. The effects of sp3 bond and modulation ratios of DLC coatings on the deformation and mechanical properties are studied using molecular dynamics (MD) nanoindentation simulations. MD simulations allow the analyses of the mechanical deformation and mechanics of nanosystems. The in situ material degradation and local deformation of DLC coatings are examined during nanoindentation. The simulation results show that single-layer DLC with a higher initial sp3 ratio generally has a larger indentation force (higher resistance to indentation), a smaller influence area, and a larger residual depth after unloading. With an increase in initial sp3 ratio, the sp3-sp2 bonding transition of C atoms significantly increases at stages of loading, holding, and unloading. Amorphous carbon/tetrahedral amorphous carbon (a-C/ta-C) bilayers with a smaller modulation ratio and ta-C/a-C bilayers with a larger modulation ratio generally require a larger indentation force. Bilayers have poor overall support when the soft (a-C) layer is the bottom layer, which increases the influence area.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan under grants MOST 111-2221-E-033-034 and 109-2221-992-009-MY3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, 200, Chung Pei Rd., Chung Li District, Taoyuan City, 32023, Taiwan

    Cheng-Da Wu & Nan-Yo Yeh

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  1. Cheng-Da Wu
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  2. Nan-Yo Yeh
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Contributions

C-DW: conceptualization, methodology, visualization, supervision, writing- original draft preparation, writing- reviewing and editing. N-YY: conceptualization, methodology, software, data curation, formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Cheng-Da Wu.

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We allow the journal to review all the data, and we confirm the validity of the results. There are no financial relationships. This work was not published previously and it is not submitted to more than one journal. It is also not split up into several parts to submit. No data have been fabricated or manipulated.

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Wu, CD., Yeh, NY. Effects of sp3 bond and modulation ratios on ultra-thin diamond-like carbon coatings using molecular dynamics nanoindentation. Appl. Phys. A 129, 839 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-07127-6

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