The staff working in the vacuum coating industry know that the coating process parameters of the multi-arc ion coating machine directly determine the film base adhesion, film base wrapping, color, uniformity and other issues. Therefore, the coating process parameters have an impact on the entire coating process. That said, it's very important. Whether the final multi-arc ion coater can coat the desired film effect, each parameter must be set in strict accordance with the coating standards.

       Research at home and abroad shows that the main process parameters of multi-arc ion coating are: substrate deposition temperature, reactive gas pressure and flow rate, target source current, substrate negative bias, substrate deposition time, etc. The technology and properties of TiC thin films prepared by multi-arc ion plating were studied in the experiment, and the influence of various process parameters on the microhardness of the coating and the adhesion between the coating and the substrate was obtained. The primary and secondary order of influence on microhardness is reactive gas flow, deposition time, substrate negative bias, and target source current; the primary and secondary order of influence on coating/substrate bonding force is deposition time, reactive gas flow, and matrix negative. Bias voltage, target source current. The TiN/Cu nanocomposite coating was prepared by the multi-arc ion plating method, and the effect of process parameters on the hardness of the coating was studied. The results show that the primary and secondary order of the influence on the microhardness is the reaction gas pressure, deposition time, and matrix deposition. Temperature, substrate negative bias.
      Substrate deposition temperature The substrate deposition temperature has a direct impact on the formation, growth and properties of the coating. According to the Gibbs adsorption principle, the higher the temperature, the less the adsorption of gas impurities on the substrate. Therefore, in general, the high deposition temperature of the substrate is beneficial to the formation and growth of the coating, increasing the deposition rate; it is also beneficial to improve the adhesion between the coating and the substrate, so that the grains of the coating grow, and the surface is smooth and bright. But if the temperature is too high, it will cause coarse grains and decrease in strength and hardness. The experiment used multi-arc ion plating technology to deposit TiN coating on the surface of high-speed steel, and studied the surface hardness of TiN coating and the bonding force of coating/substrate at different deposition temperatures. Increasing the deposition temperature is beneficial to improve the performance of TiN coatings. And the best deposition temperature is 500℃, at this time the hardness, coating/substrate bonding force and tool performance of TiN coating are the best. When coating the tool, in order to make the coating firmly bond with the substrate and improve the coating quality, the substrate needs to be heated to a certain temperature before coating. For high-speed steel tools, it is generally around 500 °C, and for carbide tools, it is generally around 900 °C.
The pressure and flow of reactive gas The pressure and flow of reactive gas directly affect the chemical composition, structure and performance of the coating. The TiAlN coating was prepared on the W18Cr4VCo5 high-speed steel substrate by multi-arc ion plating technology, and the effect of N2 partial pressure on the formation of droplets was studied. The results showed that with the increase of N2 partial pressure, the density of particles and droplets in the coating, The diameter reduction is mainly caused by zero poisoning on the surface of the target material and no nitride formation, thereby increasing the melting point of the material. Kourtev et al. pointed out that with the increase of nitrogen flow, not only the size of the droplets will shrink, but also the density of the droplets on the coating surface will be greatly reduced, which will inevitably improve the surface roughness of the coating. In the experiment, a multi-arc ion coating machine was used to prepare a Ti(C,N)/TiN multi-layer coating on an LF6 substrate, and the effect of the reaction gas flow on the coating properties was studied. The results show that the total flow rate of (N2+C2H2) is constant. In the case of , with the increase of C2H2 flow rate, the content of C in the Ti(C,N) coating increases, which increases the hardness of the coating, but the toughness deteriorates and the surface becomes rough.
       The number of target source current arc spots is proportional to the target source current, and the number of cathode spots increases with the increase of target source current. More arc spots can increase the stability of combustion. The experimental application of multi-arc ion coating technology to prepare CrN film on 65Mn steel substrate, the results show that in a certain range of target source current, the thickness of CrN film increases with the increase of target source current. Realize the control of the thickness of the film preparation. However, for a certain target, increasing the target source current means that the overall temperature of the target will increase, and the resulting droplets will increase accordingly, and the size of the droplets will also increase. These droplets greatly reduce the coating. various properties. In general, the target source current should be smaller when used for decorative coatings, and the target source current can be slightly larger when coating tools.
      The microhardness of the coating on the multi-arc ion coating machine substrate deposition time increases first and then decreases with the prolongation of the deposition time. When the coating is carried out under specific deposition parameters, stress occurs during the growth of the coating and produces stress accumulation. When the stress is large enough, the film formation of the subsequent material will be hindered, so the coating thickness increases nonlinearly. With the prolongation of deposition time, the thickness of the coating gradually increases, and the microhardness also increases gradually. However, when the deposition time is too long, the growth stress will hinder the arrival of the subsequent film, the deposition rate will decrease, and the stress between the grains in the coating will increase. When measuring the hardness, the indenter is pressed into the coating, the coating is cracked and peeled off due to local stress, and the indenter hits the softer substrate, so the hardness measurement value decreases. With the extension of deposition time, the coating/substrate adhesion also showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing, but the effect of deposition time on the adhesion was lower than that on the microhardness.