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Wear, Plasticity, and Rehybridization in Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon

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Abstract

Wear in self-mated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films is studied by molecular dynamics and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Both theory and experiment demonstrate the formation of a soft amorphous carbon (a-C) layer with increased sp2 content, which grows faster than an a-C tribolayer found on self-mated diamond sliding under similar conditions. The faster \(\hbox{sp}^{3} \rightarrow\,\hbox{ sp}^{2}\) transition in ta-C is explained by easy breaking of prestressed bonds in a finite, nanoscale ta-C region, whereas diamond amorphization occurs at an atomically sharp interface. A detailed analysis of the underlying rehybridization mechanism reveals that the \(\hbox{sp}^{3}\, \rightarrow\hbox{ sp}^{2}\) transition is triggered by plasticity in the adjacent a-C. Rehybridization therefore occurs in a region that has not yet experienced plastic yield. The resulting soft a-C tribolayer is interpreted as a precursor to the experimentally observed wear.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M.L. Falk, P. Gumbsch, M.O. Robbins, and K.M. Salerno for useful discussion. T.K. and G.S. acknowledge funding by the European Center for Emerging Materials and Processes (ECEMP), financed by the European Union and the Free State of Saxony (Project No. 13857 / 2379). R.W.C. and A.R.K. acknowledge support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Contract No. FA2386-11-1-4105 AOARD and from the UPenn MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under award No. DMR11-20901. We acknowledge W.G. Sawyer for tribological measurements and useful discussions, A.V. Sumant for providing UNCD films, and T.A. Friedmann for providing ta-C films. L.P. acknowledges funding from the European Commission (Marie-Curie IOF 272619). Computations were carried out at the Jlich Supercomputing Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Theoretical Chemistry, University of Technology Dresden, 01662, Dresden, Germany

    Tim Kunze & Gotthard Seifert

  2. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, P.O. Box 51 01 19, 01314, Dresden, Germany

    Matthias Posselt & Sibylle Gemming

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Andrew R. Konicek & Robert W. Carpick

  4. Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoffmechanik IWM, Wöhlerstrasse 11, 79108, Freiburg, Germany

    Lars Pastewka & Michael Moseler

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  1. Tim Kunze
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Correspondence to Tim Kunze.

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Kunze, T., Posselt, M., Gemming, S. et al. Wear, Plasticity, and Rehybridization in Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon. Tribol Lett 53, 119–126 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-013-0250-7

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