Thick Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon Films Deposited by Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc

High-quality diamond-like carbon (DLC) films are renowned for their exceptional hardness, low friction coefficient, and superior chemical stability. These properties make DLC films exceptionally suitable for protective coatings in optical, mechanical, aerospace, and military applications. Thick DLC films with outstanding mechanical properties were deposited on DC53 die steel using a mixed energy carbon plasma generated by a filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) device. The structural, mechanical, tribological, and optical properties of the films were tested by Raman, surface morphology instrument, Vickers Indenter, tribometer, and UV-VIS spectrophotometry. The results indicated that 14 µm tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films with a good combination with DC53 die steel substrate were obtained. The hardness was 9415 HV, which is close to that of diamond films. The fracture toughness was 4 MPa·m1/2. The friction coefficient was 0.0898, and the optical band gap was 3.12 eV.