Diamond-like carbon films for tribological modification of rubber

The service conditions of rubber seals are primarily in the dynamic sliding state, with a high coefficient of friction, which can seriously compromise the equipment's safety and the services' lifespan. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been the ideal candidate for tribological modification of rubber surfaces due to their excellent tribological properties over the last two decades. This field can be widely discussed as a hard film on soft substrates, where the challenge is the mismatch of mechanical properties, leading to the exfoliation of DLC films in friction. Early work developed the DLC films with a segment structure to solve this critical issue, illustrating the possibility of wear-resistant rubber. In recent years, researchers have paid attention to further increasing the coated rubber's lifetime in friction, focusing on adhesion. These research achievements were reviewed on the aspects of structurization, adhesion, and doping in this article. It proposed an alternative direction of understanding the surface wear mechanism for designing wear-resistant DLC films on rubber.