Diamond Coating Shields Drives

Depositing a diamond coating on metal could reduce the wear on disk drives and other electromechanical components. Two University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have developed a chemical-vapor-deposition process that lays down a nanometer-scale film of synthetic diamond particles. Physics professor Yogesh Vohra and graduate student Shane Catledge used diamond's hardness to reduce the surface friction and wear on a metal surface. With a surface that is smooth at the molecular level, the resulting diamond film is 80% as hard as perfect diamond crystals yet adheres well to the underlying metal.