Comparative study on protective properties of CrN coatings on the ABS substrate by DCMS and HiPIMS techniques

The magnetron sputtering deposition of CrN coatings is environmental friendliness and has high surface gloss. Therefore it is a promising alternative to the electroplating deposition of Cr coatings as an effective method to metallize of ABS materials. Nevertheless, the coatings on the polymers suffered from cracks' initiation during temperature alternating processes, resulting in the degradation of decoration and protection function. In this work, we proposed a new application of the HiPIMS CrN coating for as the surface metallization method for ABS, and investigated its properties in comparison with the DCMS method. Based on the electric and spectroscopic characteristics of these two kinds of magnetron sputtering discharge and the resultant coating structures, the corrosion resistance, mechanical properties, as well as the weatherability of the coatings were studied and discussed. Results revealed that the HiPIMS coating had a dense nanocrystalline CrN (200) phase structure, rather than the loose amorphous/nanocrystalline composite structure of the DCMS CrN coating. Consequently, the HiPIMS CrN coating demonstrated superior corrosion resistance, mechanical properties, and meanwhile avoided the crack problem on ABS substrates. Finally, we developed a new CrN coating by HiPIMS as the protective coating for the purpose of replacing the electroplating Cr coating on polymers.