IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Surface Engineering Tuesday Sessions
       Session SE-TuA

Paper SE-TuA9
Industrial Laser-Arc Coater for the Deposition of Superhard Amorphous Carbon Films (Diamor)

Tuesday, October 30, 2001, 4:40 pm, Room 132

Session: Hard and Superhard Coatings
Presenter: T. Schuelke, Fraunhofer Institute for Materials and Beam Technology
Authors: T. Schuelke, Fraunhofer Institute for Materials and Beam Technology
H.J. Scheibe, Fraunhofer Institute for Materials and Beam Technology
P. Siemroth, Fraunhofer Institute for Materials and Beam Technology
B. Schultrich, Fraunhofer Institute for Materials and Beam Technology
Correspondent: Click to Email
Thin amorphous carbon films (Diamor), deposited through laser-assisted cathodic arc evaporation (LaserArco process), have shown unique properties of great relevance to engineered surfaces for wear and corrosion protection. The high-modulus (> 600 GPa) coatings are superhard (80GPa) with a low coefficient of friction (0.1 dry against steel). The vast variety of potential applications includes cutting and forming tools as well as components in rolling or sliding contact situations. The LaserArco plasma source and the Diamor deposition process have proven to be consistently reliable on the laboratory scale. Extended application development yielded to an increasing demand for the Diamor coating. Subsequently, the further development aimed at scaling up the technology to industrial dimensions. This development included the design of a flexible and compact plasma source module, which was then integrated into a high volume production coater. The paper discusses the equipment design and capabilities, integration and process transfer issues, and first deposition results obtained in an industrial environment.