Performance of diamond-like carbon-protected rubber under cyclic friction. I. Influence of substrate viscoelasticity on the depth evolution.

In this paper, the influence of the viscoelastic properties of rubber substrate on the tribological behavior of DLC film-coated alkyl acrylate rubber is studied. The mechanical behavior of the rubber was first characterized by creep experiments using spherical indentations. The results were adjusted using a delayed elasticity model, and a numerical simulation of the indentation of the sliding counterpart ball during the tribotest was carried out. The results show a progressive increase of the contact depth, which is in agreement with the experimental observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]