Erosion resistance and tribological properties of coatings deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering method onto the brass substrate

Monolithic nitride coatings and multilayer ceramic/metallic coatings were deposited onto brass (CuZn40Pb2) substrates by dc magnetron sputtering. The ceramic coatings or layers are Cr-, Ti-, TiAl-, Zr-nitrides. The mechanical properties, tribological behaviour were studied. To improve adhesion, a thin metallic layer was deposited prior to deposition of ceramic monolithic coatings. Two sets of multilayer coatings for each nitride family were produced. One of the sets with 15 monolayers and the other with 150 monolayers. The results show that all coatings demonstrate good adhesion. The optimum mechanical properties, tribological behaviour and wear resistance were obtained for the monolithic coatings with a thin intermediate metallic layer.