IMPROVED CORROSION-RESISTANCE OF PHYSICAL VAPOR-DEPOSITION COATED TIN AND ZRN

TiN and ZrN coatings were deposited by reactive triode ion plating onto high-speed steel rods, and onto both rods and strips of austenitic stainless steel. Various methods were studied in order to improve the corrosion resistance of these coatings. They included the pulsing of nitrogen flow, the rotation of the specimen and separate sputtering during deposition. Different post-deposition methods were also studied. They included chemical passivation and annealing in vacuum. Corrosion tests were used to study the effectiveness of these methods. Cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy and Auger analysis were used to study the structure and morphology of the coatings. It was found that all of the methods studied improved the corrosion resistance of TiN and ZrN coatings. © 1990.