Nanostructured chromium coatings with enhanced mechanical properties and corrosion resistance
By Jianliang Lin and Isaac Dahan
Published in Surface and Coatings Technology
2015
Abstract
Nanocrystalline chromium coatings were deposited by modulated pulsed power magnetron sputtering (MPPMS) at different peak target current densities. The substrate current density increased as the peak target current density was increased. The columnar grain structure of the Cr coatings gradually evolved to randomly oriented nanocrystallites with grain sizes less than 15 nm by increasing the peak target current density to 1.2 Acm? 2. The nanocrystalline Cr coatings showed a 267% increase in the hardness to 16 \GPa\ and higher corrosion resistance as compared to the coating deposited by conventional dc magnetron sputtering.