Erosion Wear Behavior of TiAlN Coating Produced by Pulsed Filtered Vacuum Cathode Arc Deposition Assisted with Plasma

Abstract

Growth defects in all PVD hard coatings have detrimental influence on their tribological properties. To improve the tribological properties of PVD hard coatings it is important to reduce the growth defects. TiAlN coating was deposited on the substrate of a hard metal by pulsed filtered vacuum cathode arc deposition assisted with plasma (PFVCADP). The surface morphology of the original coating was examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM images of the coating surface showed that the surface growth defects in the TiAlN coating deposited by PFVCADP were reduced markedly compared with that in the coating deposited by vacuum cathode arc deposition. The TiAlN coating was eroded by solid angular SiC particles. The erosion wear behavior of the TiAlN coating was investigated.