Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon Coatings with Al Incorporation Deposited by a Hybrid Technique of Sputtering and Arc Evaporation

In this paper, tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) coatings containing Al were deposited by a hybrid technique of sputtering and arc evaporation. The influence of Al incorporation in the structure and properties of the ta-C coatings were studied as a function of the Al concentration. It is found that Al tends to form a Al-O-C bond when the Al concentration is small. An Al-C bond was detected when the Al concentration is high. Al can facilitate the graphitization of the ta-C coatings and the graphite cluster size as well as the sp²/sp³ ratio of the coatings increase as the Al concentration increases. The decline of the sp³ fraction causes the drop in the hardness of the coatings. The incorporation of Al can effectively decrease the residual stress of the ta-C coatings. During friction tests, Al can facilitate the formation of the sp²-rich graphitic tribo-layer and decrease the friction coefficient. Nevertheless, the decline of the hardness due to the Al incorporation will result in the increase in the wear rate of the coating. It is believed that the ta-C coating with a proper concentration of Al appears to achieve a good comprehensive performance with high hardness, low residual stress, and a low friction coefficient and wear rate.