FRICTION AND WEAR PROPERTIES OF CHEMOMECHANICALLY POLISHED DIAMOND FILMS

The role of surface roughness on the coefficient of friction and wear of polished CVD diamond films has been investigated. Diamond films gro wn on single crystal silicon (001) substrates by Hot Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition (HFCVD) process were polished by a chemomechanical p rocess in which a diamond film was polished against another diamond fi lm in the presence of a fused alkaline oxidizer at 320-degrees-C. Fric tion and wear properties of these polished films were measured at elev ated temperatures and in the presence of various gaseous environments. The coefficient of friction of the polished diamond films was found t o be about 0.09, which is very close to that of natural diamond (0.07) . The wear rate of the mating alumina ball slid against a polished dia mond film was also found to be comparable, when slid against natural d iamond.