Friction and wear behaviour of DLC coated biomaterials in simulated body fluid solution at fretting contacts

Considering the significance of wear on the materials performance in biomedical applications, the present research is carried out to understand the tribological behavior of CVD-DLC coated CoCrMo alloys under fretting contacts. The fretting experiments were carried out on uncoated and coated CoCrMo alloys against bearing steel under varying load for different test duration on a fretting (low amplitude reciprocatory tangential sliding) wear tester. The wear tests were performed in Hank's balanced salt solution to assess the performance in simulated body fluid (physiological) solution. Based on the microstructural characterization of the worn surfaces, the underlying wear mechanisms of the investigated wear couples are elucidated. The obtained research results clearly indicate the superior tribological performance of DLC coatings as compared to uncoated CoCrMo alloys.