Tribological performance of polycrystalline tantalum-carbide-incorporated diamond films on silicon substrates

Polycrystalline tantalum-carbide-incorporated diamond coatings have been made on unpolished side of Si (100) wafer by hot filament chemical vapor deposition process. Morphology of the coatings has been found to vary from (111) triangular-facetted to predominantly (111) square-faceted by increasing the concentration of tantalum carbide. The results have been compared to those of a diamond reference coating with no tantalum content. An increase in roughness has been observed with the increase of tantalum carbide (TaC) due to change in morphology of the diamond films. It is noticed that roughness of the coatings increases as grains become more square-faceted. It is found that diamond coatings involving tantalum carbide are not as resistant as diamond films with no TaC content and the coefficient of friction for such coatings with microcrystalline grains can be manipulated to 0·33 under high vacuum of 10−7 Torr. Such a low friction coefficient value enhances tribological behavior of unpolished Si substrates and can possibly be used in sliding applications. •Tantalum-carbide-incorporated diamond films are grown under high vacuum on Si substrates.•Better coefficient of friction (0·34) under high vacuum of ~10−7 Torr is obtained to enhance tribological behavior.•Low tantalum-carbide-incorporated diamond films on Si (100) wafers can be used in sliding applications.•Morphology of diamond crystallites changes from triangular to square faceted crystals on rising TaC content.