Strength of Diamond-Like Carbon Coatings Under Cavitation Conditions

The results of studying cavitation resistance of diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings on Ge, Cu and steel substrates are given. DLC cavitation resistance is proportional to its hardness and for "hard" DLC it exceeds several times the Stellite one. "Soft" and "hard" DLC are found to be destroyed in a different way. The brittle fatigue destruction caused by cyclic microimpact loadings is the main erosion mechanism. The traces of shift bands are found for "hard" DLC. Nonhomogeneous plastic microdeformation is assumed to precede the destruction at some stages of loadings.