Development of a hybrid process of obtaining wear-resistant coatings based on ion-plasma arc sputtering and magnetron sputtering

This work is devoted to the development of a new hybrid method of deposition of coatings based on ion-plasma arc sputtering and magnetron sputtering. The objects of investigation were samples of coatings of the Ti-Al-N system on the VK-6 hard-alloy plates obtained by three different methods, namely, ion-plasma sputtering, magnetron sputtering, and hybrid sputtering. Deposition processes were performed under the rarefaction of 1.3 × 10^?3 Pa at a substrate temperature of 550–600°C. A VT-5 alloy of the composition Ti-Al (6 at %) was used as the sputtered material. The phase and elemental compositions of the coatings, their mechanical properties (microhardness and the Young modulus), and adhesion strength were studied. All samples were tested under the conditions of continuous cutting. The results of investigations showed that the coating obtained by the hybrid method possesses a complex of positive properties of the ion-plasma and magnetron coatings, specifically, a high adhesion strength along with the uniformity of the composition and structure, which explains its increased durability.