Fabrication and tribological properties of textured diamond coatings on WC-Co cemented carbide surfaces

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the influence of texture structure on the tribological property of diamond coating on the various surface texture of WC-Co cemented carbide surfaces. The surface texture was fabricated by laser ablation technology. The diamond coating was coated on the textured cemented carbide surface by adopting the hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) method. The tribological properties of untextured and textured diamond coatings were measured utilizing a reciprocating ball-on-plate friction test against GCr15 bearing ball. The test was done under the condition of dry frictions at room temperature. The experimental results revealed that the diamond coatings were perfectly superimposed on the surface texture. The diamond coating's secondary nucleation rate at the edge of the texture was more obvious than other places. Furthermore, the texture type and texture surface area had a conspicuous impact on the friction coefficient and wear resistance of diamond coating under dry friction state. For the same type of textures, the friction coefficient of textured diamond coating considerably decreased with the increase of texture surface area. The elliptical textures were found to further reduce the friction coefficient of diamond coatings by capturing abrasive particles, compared to the grooved texture. Machining textures on diamond films was an effective method to improve the tribological properties of the friction pair.