Improvement in Adhesion of Sputtered TiB<SUB>2</SUB> Nano-Compostite Coatings onto High Speed Steel by a Chromium Interlayer

This work addresses at the development of the use of interlayer of different materials for TiB2 coatings with increased adhesion to the substrate and retained high hardness. Ti and Cr were deposited on stationary high speed steel and silicon wafer substrates by magnetron sputtering as an interlayer material. The resultant coatings were evaluated with respect to fundamental properties such as structure, coating roughness, hardness, modulus and...