A mesoscopic model for the wear in tetrahedral amorphous carbon under shear

Tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) is an extremely hard and wear resistant configuration of pure carbon, with about 80% sp3 hybridized carbon atoms. Due to the supreme properties it is used as a surface coating, where high wear resistance is needed, like injector valves or pistons. From an atomistic point of view the wear of ta-C is only partially understood as only recently progress could be made [2].