The nano-scratch behaviour of different diamond-like carbon film-substrate systems

The nano-scratch behaviour of diamond-like carbon films on a Ti alloy and Si substrate was evaluated. For both samples, three processes-fully elastic recovery, plastic deformation, and delamination and pulling-off of the films, occur successively with increasing load during scratching. The loads (Lc(L)) corresponding to the peeling-off of the films during the up-loading were 75 and 70 mN for Ti alloy and Si. However, the films on Si were delaminated during unloading, and the relevant load (Lc(U)) was only 45 mN. This probably originates from the distribution status of the plastic deformation both in the films and the substrates. Therefore, the nano-scratch test can be applied not only to obtain the cracking resistance (Lc(L)) characterizing the cohesion strength of films during up-loading but also to determine the delamination resistance (Lc(U)) related to the adhesion strength of the film-substrate during unloading.