Corrosion and tribocorrosion behavior of W doped DLC coating in artificial seawater

When stainless steel components are subjected to sliding or rolling contacts in marine environment, wear and corrosion efforts are simultaneously combined, resulting in accelerated metal dissolution and then accelerated wear in many cases. Here, DLC coatings containing W content from 0.9 to 15.1 at% have been successfully deposited on 316 L stainless steel by using DC magnetron sputtering system. Their microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosive wear performance in artificial seawater was investigated. Electrochemical tests in both corrosion and tribocorrosion conditions indicated that DLC-0.9at%W coating had better corrosion-resistance and wear protection performance than W-free DLC coating in artificial seawater. However, poor corrosion-resistance and wear protection performance were found with further increasing W content in DLC films.