Hard carbon coatings and boundary lubrication of steel parts

It is shown that the composition and structure of diamond-like carbon coatings deposited on friction surfaces of steel parts of lubricated friction units have a substantial effect on the degree of the orientation of molecules of a lubricant in a boundary film and, therefore, on the antifriction behavior of the lubricant under boundary lubrication conditions. We present the results of research carried out in recent years at the Department of Friction, Wear, and Lubrication of the Blagonravov Institute of Machine Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Chemical Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the 25th State Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in order to enhance the lubricity of oils, as well as to simplify and cheapen their compositions, which is of great importance from the viewpoint of ecology.