Development and Characterization of Nanodiamond-Containing Nanocomposite Films/Coatings, 18-R8188
Principal Investigators
Christopher Rincon
Ronghua Wei
Inclusive Dates: 10/01/10 – 10/01/11
Background — As industrial components are pushed to operate under more and more severe environments, there is a need to develop more advanced materials. Because of the difficulty of forming diamond-containing coatings using conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) or plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a novel approach was proposed for this project. The method utilizes a solid phase of nanodiamond particles and a gas (or metal vapor) phase to form the nanodiamond-containing nanocomposite coatings (NDNC) identified as the next generation of materials. This new type of NDNC coatings holds a very high potential for much wider applications than the coatings and films that are currently available in industry.
Approach — The primary objectives of the project were to (1) conduct a preliminary study to prove the concept that nanocomposite films/coatings consisting of nanodiamond particles can be deposited on engineering materials, (2) develop a method for nanodiamond particle dispersion into a vacuum chamber, (3) use EDS, SEM, and Raman to characterize the coating and particle dispersion and (4) characterize the tribological performance of the coatings using pin-on-disc and sand erosion test methods.
Accomplishments — Dry powders of nanodiamond, nanosilver, and micron-diamond were successfully added to a DLC coating without any change in standard process parameters. The doped DLC had an increased surface roughness as well as a visible change in appearance. The addition of various types of micron and nanometer size powder into a standard DLC coating did not result in any significant changes in tribology or erosion resistance compared to an undoped DLC in the current study. Further study should be given to examine the effects of silver or TiO2 as an antibacterial agent in a DLC coating. Other types of previously untested powder materials could be added to a DLC coating without sacrificing wear resistance or low coefficient of friction.
