Structure and corrosion behavior of (Ti, Fe, C) films co-deposited by three metal vapor vacuum arc beams

Thin (Ti, Fe, C) ternary films were formed on the surface of H13 steel by Ti+, Fe+, C+ three-beam co-deposition using a filtered vacuum arc plasma deposition (FVAPD) system with three metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA) ion sources. Using the three-electrode potential–kinetic polarization technique, the corrosion resistance of these coatings in acetic acid and sodium acetate solutions or sodium chloride solutions was measured. The results indicate that the films formed by this technique have good compactness and high corrosion resistance. A comparison between the (Ti, Fe, C) films and pure Ti films or (Ti, Fe, C) layers formed by C++Ti+ dual implantation into H13 steel as regards the corrosion resistance is given. Reflective high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microcopy (SEM) results show that the structure of the films present a mixed polycrystalline and amorphous state, which results in excellent corrosion resistance of the films.