Effect of Rare Earth Element Cerium on Mechanical Properties and Morphology of TiN Coating Prepared by Arc Ion Plating

TiN coatings were deposited on polished substrates of W18Cr4V high speed steel by means of vacuum arc ion plating. The effect of cerium on adhesion between TiN coating and substrate was studied. The microstructures and composition of TiN coatings were also investigated by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. It was found that cerium is an effective modifying agent and the addition of suitable amount of cerium to TiN coatings can produce relatively excellent properties such as micro-hardness, wear resistance, oxidation resistance and porosity. The experimental results show that the added cerium in TiN coatings makesa contribution to form the preferred direction along with a (111 ) or (222) close packed face, which may be one of the reasons that improves some properties mentioned above.