Tribological behaviour of stainless steel with respect to that of DLC in terms of energetic aspects

The tribological behaviour of stainless steel (SUS 440C) relative to that of diamond-like carbon (DLC) was investigated in terms of tribometer input energy. The DLC was prepared on tungsten carbide (WC) substrates using radio frequency plasma chemical vapour deposition with benzene (C₆H₆) as a gas source. The stainless steel ball, as the counterpart, was tribotested. The input energy was calculated using the applied load, friction coefficient and sliding distance obtained from each tribotest. The wear loss of the ball increased as the sliding distance increased, whereas wear loss of the DLC was not directly observed. During evaluation of the input energy, the wear rate of the stainless steel ball decreased as the input energy increased. We propose a method for evaluating tribological properties using the input energy and discuss the wear behaviour of the stainless steel based on the input energy.