Chemical vapor deposition of rhenium on a gourd shaped graphite substrate

► A uniform rhenium coating was fabricated on a gourd shaped graphite substrate by CVD. ► Effects of CVD parameters on deposition rate, yield and coating texture are studied. ► The grains of the coatings with different surface morphologies are all <002> oriented. ► The trend of <002> orientation is more significant with decreasing coating roughness.