DLC coating of boundary lubricated components - advantages of coating one of the contact surfaces rather than both or none

The influence of conventional extreme-pressure (EP) and anti-wear (AW) additives on the wear and friction behaviour of DLC coatings has been investigated. Special emphasis was put on exploring if it is most beneficial to coat only one or both the contacting surfaces and on when and how the coatings may improve the friction situation in sliding contact boundary lubricated systems. Tests were performed in a load-scanning test rig, which allows the normal load to gradually increase during the forward stroke and to correspondingly decrease during the reverse stroke. The sliding speed was set to 0.1 m/s, while the normal load was in the range between 140 and 1700 N (2.4-5.6 GPa). This investigation indicates that, under boundary lubrication conditions, addition of commercial AW and EP additives to PAO oil may significantly improve the tribological properties of DLC coatings. Furthermore, the DLC/steel combination was found to give a smoother running-in process and a better tribological performance than the DLC/DLC and steel/steel combination. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.