Hard coatings deposited by combined cathodic arc evaporation and magnetronsputtering (arc bond sputtering : ABS)

The ABS (Arc Bond Sputter) technique combines steered cathodic are evaporat ion and unbalanced magnetron sputtering to deposit hard PVD coatings with e nhanced adhesion and smooth coating surfaces (R-a < 0.05 <mu>m). Metal ions generated in the steered cathodic are mode are used to prepare the substra te prior to coating. The deposition process is carried out in unbalanced ma gnetron sputtering. Wear resistant coatings specialised for dry high speed cutting applications have been developed by applying Cr ions as the etching species and Ti0.43A l0.52Cr0.03Y0.02N as coating material. Additionally, superlattice structure d coatings base on TiAlN/ CrN, TiAlN/ VN and CrN/ NbN have been developed e xhibiting hardness values up to H-pl. > 45 GPa, critical load values L-c > 50 N, sliding wear values of < 2 * 10(-17) m(2)N(-1), friction coefficients as low as 0.4, resistance against oxidation up to 900<degrees>C and pittin g potentials of coated steel substrates in chlorine environments beyond +75 0 mV, depending on their composition and deposition parameters. The ABS technique utilises linear dual purpose cathodes (are and magnetron) , high turbomolecular pumping capacity and precise total pressure controlle d reactive gas atmospheres, thus achieving identical productivity Sor binar y nitrides and advanced superlattice - architectured multilayer coating sys tems.