NovelLC

NoveLC

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings are among the newest materials, which provide surface functionalities going beyond the capabilities of bulk material. DLC coatings have enabled the operation of fuel injectors in gasoline and diesel engines, providing necessary protection against wear, scuffing and other adverse effects of lubricant-lean friction. DLC films have become a de facto standard when friction reduction coupled with outstanding wear resistance is required. Typical automotive components that benefit from DLC protection are components of the valvetrain, fuel injection systems, transmission, piston pins and rings, connecting rods and many others.

Systec SVS Vacuum Coatings has developed and offered on the market a radically different family of DLC coatings,  bringing them to the new performance level.  Substantial increase in coating ability to resist wear, scuffing, fretting, while maintaining adequate adhesion are the main features of the new coatings. To reflect the uniqueness of these coatings they were named NoveLC.

HIPIMS (High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering,) is a new, unique process of ‘pulsed sputtering’, where the power is input in short, but very intense (up to 8 MWatts) pulses. As a result, sputtered metal becomes ionized, allowing carrying out ion implantation. This way a very strong, diffusion-like bond between the coating and substrate is formed, leading to exceptionally high level of adhesion. Securing high adhesion level was an important achievement, since high performance DLC coating demands extraordinary strong interface with the substrate.

The second innovation embedded in the NoveLC is Systec proprietary new deposition technique (a-UBM), which is a fusion of a few concurrently running deposition processes. While sophisticated, it was tamed to the production-friendly level. The NoveLC deposition process is fast and has superior repeatability and reproducibility. The deposition temperature does not exceed 220° C, making the process suitable for coating of majority of automotive components. The NoveLC process also eliminates the usual problem of DLC coatings related to localized coating delaminating (pinholes). Importantly, the process costs are comparable with competitive technologies, while produced coatings have much better properties.

These two techniques successfully complemented each other: while the a-UBM processing allowed depositing of extremely hard DLC films (HV 1500 to 3500, tunable by process means), HIPIMS ion implantation provided enhanced interface, vital for secure bonding of the hard DLC layers to the substrate.

The resulting NoveLC DLC coatings have proved to be what they were intended: high performance, new generation family of amorphous carbon films with impressive set of functional properties, including wear resistance, friction and adhesion. Three formulations of NoveLC  (F1, F2 and F3) cover all application spectrum: from the hardest F1 version to softer, more lubricious F3 type.

The NoveLC coatings became commercial in the beginning of 2009 and since then have been successfully penetrating the competitive DLC market in racing, automotive and other applications. A few racing valvetrains adopted NoveLC F1 as a better performing alternative to competitive offerings. Among the automotive applications, Systec NoveLC demonstrated superb results for cam follower applications (finger followers, bucket tappets), producing not only excellent wear protection, but reduced friction losses. Fuel injectors with NoveLC were able to easily withstand even the highest injection pressure. Equally, piston rings, piston pins, intake valves and other NoveLC-coated components of the engine consistently outperformed conventional DLC coatings. Systec aims to further expand applications range of NoveLC coatings to the benefit of the end customers in automotive and other applications.