ARE DISCHARGE DEPOSITION OF STAINLESS-STEEL COATINGS AT DIFFERENT NITROGEN PRESSURES

A filtered are discharge process was employed to deposit stainless ste el films using an AISI316 cathode. In this procedure, macroparticles a nd droplets, which are the most serious drawback of are deposition pro cesses especially in corrosion applications, are mostly filtered out. Films were deposited in vacuum or in the presence of a nitrogen plasma at different partial pressures. Low carbon steel and silicon single c rystals were employed as substrates. Rutherford backscattering spectro metry (RBS), nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) and X-ray diffraction (XR D) were used to characterize the films. The corrosion properties were examined using electrochemical polarization measurements. The corrosio n current density was clearly lower than that of bulk steel, but highe r than that of bulk AISI316. Increasing the film thickness and nitroge n content lowered the corrosion current density.