Comparative Analysis of Two Methods for Evaluating Wear Rate of Nanocrystalline Diamond Films

The study deals with the calculation of the wear rate of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films. The NCD films were grown by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MW-PECVD) on (100)-oriented Si wafers. Reciprocating sliding tests with different loads and test durations were conducted. The depth profiles of wear scars were analyzed by the mechanical (stylus) profilometer and the wear rate was evaluated. The NCD films were broken across the wear scars and the wear rate was estimated by the measurement of the area of wear scar using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) cross-sectional image. A good agreement was found between two methods.