Tuning the tribological property of PLD deposited DLC-Au nanocomposite thin films

Abstract Nonhydrogenated Diamond-like Carbon-gold (DLC-Au) nanocomposite thin films with various Au contents and cluster size ( sp 3 content due to enhanced interaction of carbon and smaller Au nano-cluster formed in these films. DLC-Au Nanocomposite formation takes place due to the low compatibility between carbon and gold which resulted in ultra-smaller Au crystallites in DLC matrix at lowest Au content. This enhanced the sp 3 content in DLC films and induces tribofilm nucleation on the ball counter body with large amount of sp 2 phase fraction which significantly reduced the CoF.