THERMAL STABILITY STUDY OF DIAMOND-LIKE CARBON FILMS CONTAINING CRYSTALLINE DIAMOND NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) particles are incorporated into diamond-like carbon (DLC) films in order to prevent NCD-DLC electrochemical corrosion. In the current paper, the thermal stability of these films was investigated. The NCD-DLC films were deposited on 316L stainless steel substrates using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The grain size of the diamond crystallites and their concentration were varied in order to obtain different NCD-DLC films. The samples were annealed to 50°C for 1 h. The annealing temperature increased until the complete graphitization of the films (ramp of 50°C). Raman scattering spectroscopy was used to evaluate in detail the chemical structure of the DLC and NCD-DLC films. The atomic arrangements and graphitization level according to the increasing temperature are discussed. The influence of NCD particle sizes and concentration on NCD-DLC thermal stability are also discussed. The results showed that the presence of crystalline diamond particles increased the graphitization temperature, which permits the use of NCD-DLC films in high temperature environments.