Furthermore, diamond like carbon (DLC), which has a structure between that of diamond and graphite, has been used as a cheaper alternative to synthetic diamond while still maintaining similar material properties.
These coatings are commonly applied using physical [1–3] or chemical vapour deposition [4].
More recently, a novel ball impact process was used to fabricate DLC coatings on stain- less steel substrates in an atmosphere of methane gas [5].
In this tech- nique, metal or ceramic balls and powder particles are placed inside a vibration chamber.
The vibration causes the balls to accelerate and repeatedly impact the inner metal surface of the chamber.
As a result, the metal surface is rapidly coated with the powder particles.
However, the current methods to manufacture diamond-based coatings present several disadvantages.
They are only suitable for small scale compo- nents with limited possible feedstock/substrate combinations, they typically require complex and expensive pre-processing steps, or they involve the use of toxic waste products.
An industrial push therefore exists to move from current technologies to alternative methods with higher efficiency.