Diamantähnliche Kohlenstoffschichten als Konstruktionselemente

Hard carbon coatings (DLC) with a low friction coefficient are an effektiv way to reduce wear and the use of lubricants in many tribological applications. Despite of well known material and film properties the calculation of efficiency and lifetime of coated systems is today not possible. Therefore coatings are normally used as a less-than-ideal solution when products not longer work because of increasing demands.This means high costs and a long time for the optimization of coatings for every especial application. Using finite-element methods for the calculation of coated surfaces under stress DLC coatings can be used as a new design element for creating new products with new functions. This will be an effective way for engineers to optimize their tribological systems.