A Study on Corrosion Resistance Characteristics of PVD Cr-N Coated Steels by Electrochemical Method

The corrosion behavior of Cr-N coated steels with different phases (${\alpha}-Cr$, CrN and $Cr_2N$) deposited by cathodic arc deposition on Hl3 steel was investigated in 3.5% NaCl solution at ambient temperature. Potentiodynamic polarization test, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were the techniques applied to characterize the corrosion behavior. It was found that the CrN coating had a lower current density from potentiodynamic polarization test than others. The porosity, corresponding to the ratio of the polarization resistance of the uncoated and the coated substrate, was higher in the $Cr_2N$ coating than in the other Cr-N coated steels. EIS measurements showed, for the most of Cr-N coated steels, that the Bode plot presented two time constants. Also, the $Cr_2N$ coating represents the characteristic of Warburg behavior after 72hr of immersion. The coating morphologies were examined in planar view and cross-section by SEM analyses and the results were compared with those of the electrochemical measurement. The CrN coating had a dense, columnar grain-sized microstructure with minor intergranular porosity. From the above results, the CrN coating provided a better corrosion protection than the other Cr-N coated steels.