Thin Film basics for extended product life

1. 6000 North Bailey Avenue Suite 9 Amherst, NY 14226 Phone: 716-270-2228 Fax: 716-270-2230
Sulzer Metco
Diamond-Like Coatings for Plastic
Molding
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2. DLC vs Other Surface Treatments
Sulzer Metco
Properties of DLC Coatings Properties of Other Surface
® ®
COATING Dylyn®/DLC Dylyn Cavidur B4 C Chrome Nickel Teflon WCC
TiN
MATERIAL DLN N * * *
Electroless
*
DIAMOND DIAMOND LIKE Tungsten
TITANIUM Diamond Electroplated Nickel
NAME LIKE NANOCOMPOSITE Carbide
NITRIDE Black CHROME Teflon®
COATING COATING Carbon
Composite
MICROHARDNESS
25 18 30 23 35 8 - 12 4-8 10 - 12
(GPa)
ROCKWELL C 85 78 90 80 95 64 - 70 40 - 60 66 - 70
COEFFICIENT OF
FRICTION AGAINST 0.12 0.07 0.1 0.4 - 0.5 0.4 - 0.5 0.2 - 0.4 0.1 - 0.3 0.2 - 0.3
STEEL (DRY)
COATING
1-4 1-4 2-4 1-4 1-4 Up to 50 5 - 50 2-4
THICKNESS (µM)
MAX. WORKING 570 °F 750 °F 840 °F 1000 °F 1800 °F 600 °F 750 °F 570 °F
TEMPERATURE 300 °C 400 °C 450 °C 600 °C 980 °C 325 °C 400 °C 300 °C
COATING 350 - 430 °F 350 - 430 °F 480 - 660 °F 500 - 950 °F 500 - 950 °F 120 - 175 °F 120 - 175 °F 440 - 480 °F
TEMPERATURE 180 - 220 °C 180 - 220 °C 250 - 350 °C 260 - 500 °C 260 - 500 °C 50 - 80 °C 50 - 80 °C 225 - 250 °C
WEAR FACTOR 1-5 5 - 10 1-5 250 41
(x 10-8 mm3/Nm) +++ +++ +++ ++ ++ + + ++
SURFACE ENERGY
40 - 50 20 - 40 40 - 50 40 - 42 20 - 30 46 - 53
(mN/m)
PVD / Galvanic Electroless
COATING METHOD PACVD PACVD PVD PVD PVD
PACVD Plating Plating
* Not a Sulzer Product listed for comparison purposes only.
| slide 1

3. Traditional Methods of Surface Treatment Sulzer Metco
Electrolysis Nickel Teflon Composite
• Excellent Lubricity (20 - 25% Teflon in deposit)
• Excellent release properties
• Lowest coefficient of friction
• Hardness: 62 Rc
• Weak adhesion to the surface
Chrome Plating
• Finishing necessary on wear parts to eliminate chrome
nodules.
• For optimized frictional and lubricating properties surface
finish must be taken below 15 micro inches Rp
400 X • Hardness: 68 Rc
• Edge build up a problem
Dicronite® Dry Lube
• deposition of 0.000020 inch (0.5 microns) “maximum”
• Not a line-of-sight process
• only corrosion hindering
• Composition - modified (WS2) Tungsten Disulfide in lamellar form.
• Hardness - 1.0 - 1.5 Moh’s scale.
• Co-efficient of Friction - 0.030 inclined plane method, against itself.
| slide 2

4. DLC Coatings
Sulzer Metco
 Hard amorphous carbon thin film
 very hard DLC
 electrically insulating
 wear resistant
 Comprises C, H
 Carbon in sp3 bonding => "Diamond-like" properties
 There are a few variants of DLC coatings
 Engineered interface layer for low film stress
a-C:H
 Hard amorphous carbon thin film
 very hard


electrically insulating
wear resistant
Dylyn®
 lower friction
 low film stress
 Comprises C, H, Si, O
 a-C:H ~ "Diamond-like" properties
 a-Si:O ~ enhances high temperature stability
 Dylyn® is a family of coatings
 Low intrinsic stress a- C:H; a- Si:O
 This is a Sulzer exclusive coating - Several US patents issued
| slide 3

5. Coatings Reduce Abrasive Wear
Sulzer Metco
8000
7000
Hardness Comparison
6000 Soft Hard Particle
5000
4000 DLC
Hard
3000
Vickers (HV)
2000
1000
0
Diamond DLC Dylyn® Metal Carbon Nickel Teflon
Cavidur® N TiN CrN Hard Chrome 52100
PART
TOOL
ABRASION:
The high hardness of Diamond-Like Coatings reduce the likelihood of hard particle penetration into the tool or part.
| slide 4

6. Coatings Reduce Friction / Material Pickup Sulzer Metco
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
Coefficient of Friction
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
PTFE DLC Diamond Metal Carbon TiN 52100
Dylyn® Cavidur® N Nickel Teflon Hard Chrome CrN
τ1 F=τ x A
τ1 > τ2
τ2 PART
TOOL
RESISTANCE TO ADHESION:
The chemically inert characteristics of diamond-like coatings dramatically reduce possibility of cold
welding and material pickup on the surface of the tool
| slide 5

7. Surface Engery & Wetting Behavior of Different Coatings Sulzer Metco
Close-up of a series of
liquid droplets on a
Dylyn® sample
•Surface energy is a
lubricant fluid drop measure of the
wetting angle
with constant volume, affinity of a
here water of contact 
substance to stick to
fluid spreads
over the surface the material.
   •The lower the value,
Metal the less likely a
DLC TiN TiAlN material will weld or
Carbide
Dylyn®
stick to a surface.
•PFTE has a surface
20 - 40 40 - 42 42 - 46 46 - 53 energy of 18 mN/m
Surface Energy
Better Wetting Behavior (mN/m)
Better Release Behavior
| slide 6

8. Corrosion Test
Sulzer Metco
Dylyn® Corrosive Attack
DLC
PART
TOOL
The high density and
amorphous structure of
Diamond-Like Coatings
inhibit the corrosive by-
products from
penetrating into the
TiN tool.
ASTM B 117-97 Salt Spray Test
| slide 7

9. Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Process
Sulzer Metco
Sulzer Deposition System
Vacuum Pump
Substrates Reactive Plasma
Gas Supply
such as CH4
Plasma Generator
 Equipment designed & constructed by Sulzer Metco
 Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (PACVD)
process
 In-situ substrate cleaning via plasma etching
 Substrate temperature does not exceed 220°C
 Maximum part dimensions must fit within a 32” diagonal,
be less than 12” in height and weigh less than 100Kg
| slide 8

10. Coating Penetration in Close Spaces Sulzer Metco
 PACVD coating process is DLC Coating
non-line of sight
 Shadowing occurs in holes or + + + + + + + + + + + +
thin slots + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + +
+ +
 During the process there is a + + + + + +
+ +
+ + + + + +
relative gas ion density. +
+
+
 As the gas ions travels into the + + X
+ +
restricted pathway; the + +
charged part walls attracts the +
+ +
oppositely charged gas ions +
forming the coating. +
+ (-)
 As the gas ions go deeper into +
the restricted pathway, there Taper +
are less available until no
coating is formed. +
 This reduction of coating is
called Shadowing and the X
coating forms only as deep as
the width of the opening of the
restricted pathway.
| slide 9

11. Sulzer Stripping Process
Sulzer Metco
Stripped Masked Steel Sample
Stripped
2 Ra Away from edge
As Coated 2.5 Ra
3 Ra
Near Edge
 Sulzer uses an Reactive Ion Etching
process to decoat diamond-like and
other carbon based coating types
 Stripped finish on 8620 steel typically
changes about 1 to 2 Ra
 This process can be used on titanium,
beryllium copper and aluminum parts in
addition to steels and ceramics
Note: Chrome plated parts and small geometries may not be advisable to strip.
| slide 10

12. Diamond-Like Carbon Coatings (DLC) Sulzer Metco
Characteristics
Multi-Layer Coating
 All DLC coating have an adhesion layer
 Adhesion layer influences important coating properties
Dylyn®, Me-Dylyn® or DLC
 Amount of hydrogen controls the hardness
Ti or Dylyn® Adhesion Layer
 Multi-layer structures
 DLN interlayer acts as buffer layer, reducing stress. Dylyn®, Me-Dylyn® or DLC
 Allows for thicker total coating Ti or Dylyn® Adhesion Layer
 Thicker coating  Longer wear life
Substrate
 Multilayer coatings resist Hertzian stresses due to
their higher modulus of elasticity Standard Coating
Stress Fracture
Dylyn®, Me-Dylyn® or DLC
Ti or Dylyn® Adhesion Layer
Substrate
Single Layer Mulit-layer
| slide 11

13. Matching the Coating & Applications / Cavidur®
Sulzer Metco
Sorevi Coatings (Cavidur®)
Benefits of Multiple Layers
• Better Adhesion
• High Fracture Toughness
• Higher Modulus
1 to 2 µm DLC Zone
1 to 3 µm
Adhesion Zone
2 to
5 µm
Base Material
| slide 12

14. Comparison of sulzer vs Competitive DLC Coatings Sulzer Metco
Sulzer Dylyn®/DLC Competitive DLC
AFM – Topography (Z: 300nm/div) | slide 13

15. SEM-Comparison
Sulzer Metco
2.5 µm
5,000 X
1,000 X
Amorphous coating
structure
without change in
surface finish
Dylyn®/DLC (PACVD) TiAlN (PVD)
| slide 14

16. Comparison of Wear Sulzer Metco
Force (F): 20 N
v
Velocity (V): 200 RPM
Sliding Distance: 10,000
Revolutions
F Wear Factor
Coating (x 10-8 mm3/Nm)
1.40E-05
1.20E-05
DLC 1-5
®
1.00E-05
Dylyn 5 - 10
Wear (mm3/Nm)
8.00E-06 WC/C 41
6.00E-06
TiCN 60
4.00E-06
TiN 250
2.00E-06
0.00E+00
TiAlN 790 - 1000
TiN Cr Dylyn®/DLC
Coating Wear Wear on Steel Ball (52100) | slide 15

17. Dry Running Properties of Materials
Sulzer Metco
Coefficient of friction
Wear tracks of materials after dry running
0.
8 AISI 52100 (DIN 1.3505)
bearing steel, uncoated
0.
AISI 4140 (DIN 1.7225)
7 alloy steel, nitrided Cold
Hard chrome plating Welding
0. Electroless nickel
6
AISI 4135 (DIN 1.7707)
alloy steel, oxynitrocarburised
0. AISI 52100 (DIN 1.3505) uncoated
5 CuSnPb-bronze
Scratches
Nickel-Teflon
0. WC/C-PVD
4 BALINIT C Nearly
DLC No Wear
0. Dylyn®
30
0 10 20 Test time [min]
AISI 4140 (DIN 1.7225) nitrided
0.
2
0.
1
Dylyn® DLC AISI 52100 + BALINIT® C (WC/C) Cu Sn Pb - bronze| slide 16

18. Summary Sulzer Metco
Dylyn®/DLC is able to offer a wide variety of
properties with only ONE coating:
• lowest available coefficient of friction…
• …which is maintained by the high hardness
• no surface roughness changes … that could
influence galling and release properties
• 100% corrosion protection
• Coating temperature below 200°C
• Removable!!
• Biocompatible
| slide 17

19. General Application Guidelines for Diamond-Like Coating Sulzer Metco
For molding surfaces: Use the Dylyn® family of
coatings
For sliding surfaces: Use the DLC family of
coatings
Both coatings can work for molding or sliding
applications, but we typically look at the primary
need to determine which coating is the primary
choice
There are multiple recipes available and if the
first coating recipe did not fully satisfy; we can
determine by analyzing the results what the
optimum coating recipe should be | slide 18