Self-similarity in abrasion of metals by nanosharp asperities of hard carbon containing films

We discuss a remarkably simple power-law relationship observed between the abrasion rate of an initially spherical slider by hard carbon-containing films and the number of sliding cycles n to which the film has been subjected. The power-law relationship is valid up to 4 orders of magnitude in n. We model this phenomenon by connecting it with nanocharacteristics of the coatings. It is proposed to explain the phenomenon by a statistically self-similar variation of the pattern of relatively sharp nanometer-scale asperities of the films. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.