Preparation of Diamond-Like Carbon Polymer Hybrid Films Using Filtered Pulsed Arc Discharge Method

Abstract

Novel non-stick and hard coating materials, diamondlike carbon polymer hybrids (DLC-p-h), were prepared with the filtered pulsed arc discharge (FPAD) method using a graphite polymer cathode. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were used as sample polymers for this new type of material. The properties of resulting DLC-polysiloxane (DLC-PDMS-h) and DLC-Teflon (DLC-PTFE-h) hybrids can be changed by adjusting the process parameters. DLC-PDMS-h films with striking nonstick properties were prepared. These films were hydrophobic, they could not be marked with common permanent marker pens and the adhesion of commonly used adhesive tapes was very low. The best measured water contact angles and droplet sliding angles were 112° and 3°, respectively. The peeling force in the 180° back peel test was over 100 times lower for DLCPDMS-h than for bulk PTFE. In contrast to common non-stick materials, DLC-PDMS-h films were very hard, Vickers hardness up to 70 GPa depending on the amount of polymer component. For example, a combination of 26 GPa hardness and 109° water contact angle was easily achieved. The elemental composition of these films was determined with elastic recoil detection analysis and the sp³ fraction with electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis.