Effects of surface roughness of substrate on properties of Ti/TiN/Zr/ZrN multilayer coatings

Ti/TiN/Zr/ZrN multilayer coatings were deposited on Cr17Ni2 steel substrates with different surface roughnesses by vacuum cathodic arc deposition method. Microstructure, micro-hardness, adhesion strength and cross-sectional morphology of the obtained multilayer coatings were investigated. The results show that the Vickers hardness of Ti/TiN/Zr/ZrN multilayer coating, with a film thickness of 11.37 μm, is 29.36 GPa. The erosion and salt spray resistance performance of Cr17Ni2 steel substrates can be evidently improved by Ti/TiN/Zr/ZrN multilayer coating. The surface roughness of Cr17Ni2 steel substrates plays an important role in determining the mechanical and erosion performances of Ti/TiN/Zr/ZrN multilayer coatings. Overall, a low value of the surface roughness of substrates corresponds to an improved performance of erosion and salt spray resistance of multilayer coatings. The optimized performance of Ti/TiN/Zr/ZrN multilayer coatings can be achieved provided that the surface roughness of Cr17Ni2 steel substrates is lower than 0.4 μm.