20.500.12556/RUL-175129 High cycle fatigue and wear behavior of ta-C and a-C:H coated PEEK polymer spur gears under dry contact conditions Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings are under investigation as a potential solution for extending the service life of polymer gears. This study examines the fatigue and wear behavior of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) polymer gears coated with tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) and hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) at thicknesses of 2 μm and 5 μm. The gears were subjected to reference gear pair testing at 1.8 Nm torque under dry contact conditions in a climate-controlled environment. The PEEK substrate and the DLC coated gear failure mechanisms include both tooth flank and root fatigue fractures, with minor tooth surface wear observed. Although DLC coatings wore off relatively early when meshing with steel gears, the service life of the ta-C (5 μm) and a-C:H (5 μm) coated gears was approximately twice that of the PEEK substrate gears and ta-C (2 μm) coated gears. In addition, the a-C:H coatings caused minimal wear on the steel counterparts due to their higher sp2 hybridized graphite structure, whereas the ta-C coatings caused major wear due to their predominantly sp3 hybridized diamond structure. Overall, the results demonstrate that ta-C (5 μm) and a-C:H (5 μm) coatings significantly improve the durability and performance of PEEK polymer gears, highlighting their potential for demanding applications. gears PEEK coatings diamond-like carbon fatigue wear polimerni zobniki PEEK prevleke DLC utrujanje obraba true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2025-10-17 09:38:21 2025-10-17 09:38:27 2025-12-06 04:01:59 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 13 str. Vol. 152, art. 109009 Nov. 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno apc 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 621.833:620.178 0142-9418 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2025.109009 253591811 Mojskerc_..._High_cycle_....pdf Mojskerc_..._High_cycle_....pdf 1 A923589F7D1CA366C688B8CC3109CDDA 1a94231f2f5201daf02efb961bb918704de3d4ccd585a14333854f0532178940 c12363a8-ab2c-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=220414 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014294182500323X 1 00d2cbe0-ab2c-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=220412 Fakulteta za strojništvo 0 0 0