Design and characterization of diamond-like carbon coated kinematic contacts for improved coupling precision and wear resistance

Abstract

Kinematic couplings are used to precisely locate components by constraining all 6 degrees of freedom. The repeatability of kinematic couplings range from hundreds-of-microns down to tens-of-nanometers. This paper introduces diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings as a means to improve the repeatability of kinematic couplings. Coatings with the help of lubricants have been used in the past to improve the repeatability of kinematic couplings, but DLC coatings offer the opportunity to improve repeatability without the use of lubricants. This will allow for use of kinematic couplings in tools and instrumentation such as scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) where lubricants cannot be used. The experimental results from this experimental setup concluded that kinematic couplings coated with DLC contacts have a repeatability on the order of microns compared to steel contact which have a repeatability on the order of tens-of-microns. The DLC contacts have a repeatability at least l0X better than that of the steel contacts.