TY - JOUR
T1 - Fracture mechanics of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films coated on flexible polymer substrates
AU - Tsubone, Dai
AU - Hasebe, Terumitsu
AU - Kamijo, Aki
AU - Hotta, Atsushi
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by a research grant from The Mazda Foundation. We greatly appreciate fruitful and in-depth discussions with Prof. T. Suzuki and his lab members.
PY - 2007/2/4
Y1 - 2007/2/4
N2 - Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been widely used for many industrial applications due to their outstanding physical properties such as high hardness, wear resistance and biological compatibility. The DLC films coated on polymer substrates have also been extensively used and investigated because recently, quite a few applications for the use of these polymer-DLC composites have been proposed and actively discussed. The applications range from DLC-coated Polyethylene Terephthalate film (DLC-PET), through DLC-coated Polycarbonate (DLC-PC) to other DLC-coated rubbers. In this work, thin DLC films coated on several polymer substrates possessing different chemical structures and Young's moduli were introduced. The DLC-polymer films were stretched to different strains and the extended surface was investigated by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study the fracture mechanics of the DLC-coated polymer films. Horizontally and vertically aligned micro-cracks and micro-buckling were observed, constructing periodic lattice-like fracture patterns on the surface of the extended DLC-polymer films. It was found that the lattice patterns were significantly influenced by Young's moduli of polymer substrates and DLC films, and that the patterns were also dependent on the adhesion between the DLC films and the polymers.
AB - Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been widely used for many industrial applications due to their outstanding physical properties such as high hardness, wear resistance and biological compatibility. The DLC films coated on polymer substrates have also been extensively used and investigated because recently, quite a few applications for the use of these polymer-DLC composites have been proposed and actively discussed. The applications range from DLC-coated Polyethylene Terephthalate film (DLC-PET), through DLC-coated Polycarbonate (DLC-PC) to other DLC-coated rubbers. In this work, thin DLC films coated on several polymer substrates possessing different chemical structures and Young's moduli were introduced. The DLC-polymer films were stretched to different strains and the extended surface was investigated by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study the fracture mechanics of the DLC-coated polymer films. Horizontally and vertically aligned micro-cracks and micro-buckling were observed, constructing periodic lattice-like fracture patterns on the surface of the extended DLC-polymer films. It was found that the lattice patterns were significantly influenced by Young's moduli of polymer substrates and DLC films, and that the patterns were also dependent on the adhesion between the DLC films and the polymers.
KW - Carbon films
KW - Fracture surface
KW - Polymers
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U2 - 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2006.12.008
DO - 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2006.12.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33847013276
SN - 0257-8972
VL - 201
SP - 6423
EP - 6430
JO - Surface and Coatings Technology
JF - Surface and Coatings Technology
IS - 14
ER -