Influence of substrate surface roughness on the adhesion of magnetron sputtered Cr coating

Cr coatings were deposited on both the polished and rough substrate using DC magnetron sputtering. The influence of substrate surface roughness on the morphology, crystalline phase and mechanical properties of the coatings were analyzed. The results showed that surface roughness had a significant effect on the surface morphology of the coating, as the coating inherited the surface morphology of the substrate. Surface roughness before and after coating for the polished and rough surfaces were 0.054–0.046 and 0.107–0.563[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m, respectively. The hardness and Young’s modulus of the coating deposited on the polished surface were 5.5 and 188.6[Formula: see text]GPa, respectively, while the mechanical properties of the coating deposited on the rough surface are about the same. The results showed that the adhesion of the coating can be improved by appropriately increasing the surface roughness.