Influence of load on the dry frictional performance of alkyl acrylate copolymer elastomers coated with diamond-like carbon films

In this work, the influence of applied load on the frictional behavior of alkyl acrylate copolymer elastomers coated with diamond-like carbon films is studied at dry conditions. The performance of two coatings with very different microstructure (patched vs. continuous film) is compared with the uncoated substrate. A wide range of applied loads is explored, from 1 mN to 1 N, which is achieved by using a specific tribometer. The variation of 3 orders of magnitude in the applied load leads to a strong variation of the observed frictional phenomena. The different behavior of both samples at various loads is explained using a model that considers two contributions to the friction coefficient, namely, an adhesive and a rubber hysteresis part. The constraints and applicability of such model are critically evaluated.