Corrosion resistance appraisal of TiN, TiCN and TiAlN coatings deposited by CAE-PVD method on WC–Co cutting tools exposed to artificial sea water

•A new composite WC–Co cutting tool was coated with TiN, TiCN, TiAlN by CAE-PVD.•Corrosion resistance in 3.5% NaCl solution of TiN, TiCN, TiAlN coatings were measured.•Structural changes induced by corrosion test upon TiN, TiCN, TiAlN were investigated.•Corrosion resistance of TiN, TiCN, TiAlN was ranked based on Eoc, icorr, P parameters.•TiN coating is the best solution for new tool designed to work in marine environment. A new advanced sintered composite cutting tool has been developed based on tungsten carbide matrix ligated with cobalt (WC–Co) additivated with tantalum carbide (TaC), titanium carbide (TiC) and niobium carbide (NbC) as grain growth inhibitors. Titanium nitride (TiN), titanium carbonitride (TiCN) and titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN) coatings were deposited on these tools by CAE-PVD technique to find out the best solution to improve the corrosion resistance of this tool in marine environment. The electrochemical behaviours of the specimens in 3.5% NaCl water solution were estimated by potentiodynamic polarization measurements i.e. the open circuit potential (Eoc), corrosion potential (Ecorr) and corrosion current density (icorr). Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), optical microscopy (OM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigations have been carried on tested and untested specimens to substantiate the corrosion resistance of the tested specimens. Based on the open circuit potential (Eoc) and corrosion potential (Ecorr) results, the tested specimens were ranked as TiN, TiAlN, TiCN and WC–Co while on corrosion current density (icorr) and protective efficiency (P) values they have been ranked as TiN, TiAlN, WC–Co and TiCN. The WAXD, MO and AFM results unambiguously show that the corrosion resistance depends on the nature and morphology of the coating.