Influence of carbon content on the nanotribology of W-S-C films

The objective of the present work is to evaluate the influence of carbon content on nanotribological response of reactively sputtered W-S-C thin film. Towards that purpose, W-S-C film containing varying amount of carbon was deposited on tool steel substrate using reactive sputtering. The nanohardness and lateral force microscopy of these films are determined using a nanoindenter and an atomic force microscope (AFM). The results show that the hardness and the pull off force are the maximum at intermediate carbon content. High carbon also appears detrimental for tribology at low load.