· KAIPU Engineering · glossary · 1 min read
undefined — Industry Glossary Entry
Definition of ta-C (tetrahedral amorphous carbon) PVD coating for industrial blades: a harder, lower-friction variant of DLC, ideal for aluminium foil and medical cutting.
undefined Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon (ta-C) is a high-density DLC variant with 50–90 % sp³ (diamond-like) bonding, giving it higher hardness (3,000–6,000 HV) than standard DLC and an even lower coefficient of friction (0.05–0.10). Applied by filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) at room temperature to 200 °C, 0.5–2 µm thick.
When to use
- Aluminium foil slitting — eliminates weld even on the most challenging alloys
- Sticky polymer film slitting — extremely low friction
- Medical cutting — inert, low-friction, sterilizable
- High-precision slitting where a 0.5 µm coating is required (thin films)
When NOT to use
- Abrasive substrates (ta-C is too thin to provide wear life on abrasive materials)
- Impact-loaded parts (ta-C is brittle at thicknesses above 1.5 µm)
- Where the cost premium (3× standard DLC) is not justified by the life gain
See also: PVD Coating Comparison Table, DLC coating.