Comparison of wear and corrosion behaviors of Cr and CrN sputtered coatings

Abstract Cr and CrN coatings were prepared by d.c. magnetron sputtering in a pure Ar and a N 2 –Ar atmospheres, respectively. The N 2 –Ar gas composition was chosen in order to allow the production of stoichiometric CrN deposits at the highest possible deposition rate. The columnar growth, low friction coefficient and high hardness of CrN were confirmed for deposits produced at a low temperature. The electrochemical behavior of CrN sputtered deposits in chloride solutions seemed to be similar to the behavior of Cr sputtered deposits. Moreover, it was shown that an anodic polarization treatment of the deposit increases the corrosion resistance of a chromium coating in the presence of chloride ions.