Patent ID: 8481464

Claim:
A spacer member reducing fretting wear sandwiched between contact surfaces of first and second contact materials subject to abrasion and suffering from wear comprising: a plurality of sliding or vibrating surfaces having a higher hardness than at least one of the contact surfaces of said first contact material and said second contact material, and a lower coefficient of friction and a higher flatness than at least one of the contact surfaces of said first contact material and said second contact material, wherein said sliding or vibrating surfaces of the spacer member are partially or completely covered by a diamond-like carbon (DLC) film, and wherein said diamond-like carbon (DLC) film is covered over said sliding and vibrating surfaces of the spacer member; and a plurality of segmented grooves on the DLC film configured to accommodate worn particles formed on the spacer member, wherein the groove width of said plurality of grooves is 20 micrometer or more and a coverage rate of the DLC film is 80% or less, and wherein the plurality of segmented grooves are further configured to reduce a strain applied to the DLC film.