Hard carbon coatings deposited by pulsed high current magnetron sputtering

Hard (up to 17 GPa) carbon coatings are deposited onto face SiC bearings used in liquid pumps by pulsed high-current magnetron sputtering of graphite. As a result, the friction coefficient is decreased from 0.43 to 0.11 and the wear rate is decreased from 26 to 0.307 $\mu$m$^3$N$^{-1}$m$^{-1}$, which increases the service life of the bearings by approximately three times. The deposited carbon coatings have a high hardness and wear resistance due to the generation of high-density (up to 10$^{13}$ cm$^{-3}$) plasma.