Development and Characterization of Ti/TiC/TiN Coatings by Cathodic Arc Evaporation Technique

Metallic nitride and metallic carbide coatings in general have good resistance to wear. In particular they are coated on the metal surfaces subjected to wear/abrasion under chemically aggressive environments. In the present work, Titanium based multilayered hard coatings are developed on the highly-alloyed steel MDN121 by cathodic arc evaporation technique. The microstructure and mechanical properties of titanium based multilayer coatings are investigated to analyze the latent of these protective coatings. Coating morphology and elemental composition, surface topography, crystal phase and presence of Diamond like carbon are investigated using techniques of field emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with EDS, scanning tunneling microscopy, glancing angle XRD, and Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate that the coatings developed are defect free, dense, homogeneous, and a coating thickness in the range of 1–2 µm is achieved. Hardness and elastic modulus of the coatings have been measured using nano indentation technique and are found to be 5.60 and 297.60 GPa respectively. The adhesions of the coatings have been measured using the nano scratch test and critical load is found to be at 47.70 mN.