Properties of TiN coatings deposited by the modified IPD method

The paper describes the very first observations of the effect of pulsed gas injection to the coaxial accelerator during impulse plasma deposition (IPD) on the structure and properties of deposited material. As a test material a TiN coating deposited on high-speed steel substrates was chosen. The morphology and wear-resistance properties were determined. The structure obtained with modified IPD method is characterized by a crystalline structure built of rectangular nanograins (with size a few tens of nm) in contrast to the nanocrystalline structure based on three-dimensional (3D) agglomerates of nanoparticles typical for the standard IPD synthesis. The wear-resistance of the TiN coatings deposited in the modified IPD apparatus demonstrate very good properties with the best results more than ten times better compared with the uncoated steel substrates.