Abstract
Elastomers are materials which suffer from strong wear and cause high friction losses when subjected to dynamic contact, leading quite often to failure of the components in devices.
In this Thesis, the protection of elastomers by the deposition of carbon-based films (DLC) is studied. To accomplish that objective, an integral approach is proposed, i.e. finding correlations between deposition conditions, characteristics of the films and adhesive and tribological performance.
The deposition is performed by plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition, which is fine tuned to obtain a tailored microstructure of the films. A columnar tile-like structure is optimal for protection of this flexible substrates, and excellent frictional behavior is obtained.
Nevertheless, the viscoelastic properties of the substrate also play a decisive influence on the frictional performance of the DLC-elastomer ensemble. Therefore, the frictional behavior of DLC-coated elastomers is analyzed in detail, through dedicated experiments and theoretical evaluations, resulting in new insights and novel applications.
In this Thesis, the protection of elastomers by the deposition of carbon-based films (DLC) is studied. To accomplish that objective, an integral approach is proposed, i.e. finding correlations between deposition conditions, characteristics of the films and adhesive and tribological performance.
The deposition is performed by plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition, which is fine tuned to obtain a tailored microstructure of the films. A columnar tile-like structure is optimal for protection of this flexible substrates, and excellent frictional behavior is obtained.
Nevertheless, the viscoelastic properties of the substrate also play a decisive influence on the frictional performance of the DLC-elastomer ensemble. Therefore, the frictional behavior of DLC-coated elastomers is analyzed in detail, through dedicated experiments and theoretical evaluations, resulting in new insights and novel applications.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Awarding Institution |
|
| Supervisors/Advisors |
|
| Award date | 27-Jan-2017 |
| Place of Publication | [Groningen] |
| Publisher | |
| Print ISBNs | 978-90-367-9484-8 |
| Electronic ISBNs | 978-90-367-9483-1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |