Tribological Behavior of Diamond Coatings against Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics under Dry Conditions

Abstract

The frictional resistance and machining quality when cutting carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) laminates are associated with tribological behavior of tool materials. In the present study, the tribological properties of three types of monolayer microcrystalline diamond (MCD) coatings, nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) coatings and dual-layer MCD/NCD coatings sliding against CFRP are investigated under dry lubricated conditions using the rotational friction tester. The coefficients of friction (COF), wear rate and worn surfaces of the contacted surfaces are analyzed for the MCD-CFRP, NCD-CFRP and MCD/NCD-CFRP contacting pairs. The results show that compared with the monolayer MCD and NCD, the bilayer of MCD/NCD coating displays the lowest COF with the value of ~0.13, it is 42% and 55% of the values for MCD and NCD coatings. Due to the rough surfaces of MCD, the wear debris of CFRP on MCD samples exhibits the plowing effect. While for the NCD and MCD/NCD samples, the wear fragments display the planar shapes. The wear rate of CFRP against MCD is more than twice that of CFRP against NCD, due to the excellent loading capacity. While the wear rate of CFRP against MCD/NCD is about twice than that of CFRP-NCD pairs. The bilayer of MCD/NCD combines the excellent advantages of high hardness of MCD and the smooth surface of NCD. It shows the broad application potential for the bilayer coatings.