COMPOSITE COATING AlCr(C)N/Zr(C)N

Abstract

A thin solid film system of Zr(C)N/AlCr(C)N was obtained and characterized. The solid film system is a upper part of a designing composite coating aimed to replace hard galvanic chromium commonly deposited onto plungers of hydro cylinders and other machine parts and technological accessories. The vacuum arc deposition method was applied in both non-filter mode and filter mode of the arc plasma to control a macroparticle content in the coatings deposited onto polished substrates made of grade 40X steel. Crystalline structures of these nitrides and carbonitrides were determined as B1 with formation of the solid solutions of carbon in the nitride sublattice.
The research of element composition revealed a broad transit area at the film interfaces doe to a high energy capacity of both zirconium and aluminium-chromium
plasma. One of the most important performances of the coatings replaced hard chrome is their corrosion resistance. It was shown that the two layer, coating of AlCrN/AlCrCN (lower layer) and ZrN/ZrCN (top layer) possessed an excellent anticorrosion property, which corrosion current is 7 times lower comparing with that of other layer combinations as well as two order of magnitude lower than that of the carbon steel substrate.