Improving the Adhesion and Wear Resistance of Amorphous Carbon Films on Rubber Substrate by Air Plasma Pretreatment

To enhance the wear resistance of rubber in dynamic sealing environment,the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique is used to deposit amorphous carbon films on the surface of nitrile rubber.The film structure,adhesion and friction properties of films/rubber was evaluated with High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy(HRTEM),Microscopic Confocal Raman Spectroscopy,Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM),Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer(FTIR),Scratch Tester,Spherical Disc Friction and Wear Tester,respectively.The results showed that the film tended to be graphitized as the pretreatment bias of the air plasma increased.The film with a pretreatment bias of-900 V exhibited the best adhesion(46 N) and friction properties(average friction coefficient 0.24).The friction coefficient was decreased by 70%compared with that of the original rubber and the friction curve was steady.It was indicated that the air plasma pretreatment could effectively improve the adhesion of the film on rubber,and enhance the wear resistance of the rubber.