In
the ceramic industry, ceramic particles remain on a mold surface
due to which the mold requires frequent cleaning during press molding,
reducing productivity. Surface texturing and tetrahedral amorphous
carbon (ta-C) coatings are well-known surface-energy controllable
treatments developed for low adhesion, low friction, and high wear
resistance. In the present paper, we demonstrate the effect of reducing
ceramic residues using nanotexturing, ta-C coatings, and their combination.
We compare two surface morphologies (i.e., 770 nm pitch nanotexturing
and flat) and five materials (i.e., nonhardened steel, hardened steel,
ta-C, and two types of nitrogen-doped ta-C (ta-CNx). Molding test
results show that the ta-C coating on flat surfaces with the highest
hardness of 30 GPa shows the lowest residual amount of 5.9 μg
for Al2O3 ceramic particles. The amount is 82%
less than that of the nonhardened steel. The ta-CNx20,
made with a nitrogen flow rate of 20 sccm, shows the lowest residual
amount of 234 μg for SiO2 ceramic particles, which
is 81% less than that of the nontextured ta-CNx20. In conclusion,
we provide design guidelines for nanotextured mold surfaces including
the texturing pitch should be small enough for ceramic particles;
the mold surface should be sufficiently hard; the lower the surface
energy per unit area, the less residues of ceramic particles.