International Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences (IJEAS)

ISSN: 2394-3661, Volume-3, Issue-6, June 2016

A review paper on Vapour deposition coating

Vishakha S. Pahade, Pankaj S. Chavan, Vaishali P. Baisane
working environments. Surface engineering is a fast growing
Abstract with the demands of lower cost, higher accuracy, area of research because of the high industrial demands for
better surface finish, and shorter process time in the precision friction control and wear resistance, coupled with enabling
engineering industry, high-speed machining of high hardness technology that produces new coatings with desirable
materials including hardened tool steels has become increasingly tribological performance as well as mechanical properties.
important. To improve the performance and to extend the life of
These coatings have many tribological applications such as
the cutting tools, various types of vapour deposition coatings
have been developed. Vapour deposition coatings for high-speed gas turbine bearings, diesel engine piston rings, aerospace
machining consist of multiple layers because of the requirements components or forming tools, etc. The elevated friction and
for high-adhesion strength to the substrate, high-thermal wears generated causes essential energetic and material losses
stability, high hardness, a low-friction coefficient, and good and decreases efficiency of mechanical systems [3].
compatibility. The present techniques used to produce these
coatings include physical-vapour deposition (PVD), and The application of coatings to improve tribological
chemical vapour deposition (CVD).Traditionally used coatings properties of tools (e.g. for metal cutting and forming) and
like TiN, CrN, and their alloyed nitride coatings, have high
machine elements (e.g. sliding bearings, valves) is constantly
hardness and good adhesion strength on common materials used
in the tooling industry. However, these coatings have poor
increasing. During the last decade the number of coating
performance in high-speed machining applications, especially in materials, structures, combinations and applications has
the cutting of hardened tool steels, because of phase transition increased exponentially. We could not imagine high speed
(oxidation) at high temperature. This research work gives the machining, hard machining and dry machining without
introduction about PVD and CVD. appropriate hard protective coatings.

Index TermsCoating, PVD, CVD. 2. COATING

A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an
1. INTRODUCTION object, usually referred to as the substrate. There are different
Though many developments in the cutting tool materials types of coating such as Chemical coating, Electrochemical
and surface treatments are carried out, not a single material coating, Thermo chemical coating, Thermo coating, vapour
have a fruitful combination of all those properties required by deposition coating & Mechanical coating.
a machining process. In order to have longer tool lives and
increase in productivity, one must go for surface engineering 2.1VAPOUR DEPOSITION COATING
on tools. The harder materials lack in toughness and also they It is a family of processes used to deposit layers of material
are sensitive to vibration and chatter. The refractory materials atom by atom or molecule by molecule on a solid surface.
possess excellent wear resistant material on a tougher This process is operates at below atmospheric pressure.
substrate. The coatings are extremely fined grained and dense
with a high degree of purity. As the coatings are diffused into 2.2 TYPES OF VAPOUR DEPOSITION COATING
the underlying metal, the bond is perfect. The coating a. Physical vapour deposition: In this process the
becomes a part of the tool. Low thermal conductivity material that is introduced onto the substrate is introduced in
properties also eliminate cold welding and chip building-up. solid form.
In this context, appropriate selection of cutting geometry and b. Chemical vapour deposition: In this process the
tool material is crucial to be competitive, especially in the material that is introduced onto the substrate is introduced in a
field of difficult-to-machine materials, such as stainless steels. gaseous form.
Selection of tool coating plays a fundamental role as far as
improvement of cutting tool performance is affected directly. a. PHYSICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION
As result, in the last years a significant amount of studies has Physical vapour deposition is fundamentally a vaporization
focused in improving coatings with respect to performance, coating technique, involving transfer of material on an atomic
hardness, thermal resistance and low friction coefficients [1]. level. It is an alternative process to electroplating. The
Thin film coatings are being increasingly used for tribological process is similar to CVD except that the raw material .i.e.
applications. In modern industrial system the major The material that is going to be deposited starts out in solid
challenges are to design and produce materials having a low form, whereas in CVD , the precursor are introduced to the
wear rate and low coefficient of friction for a wide range of reaction chamber in the gaseous state. This process involves
several steps. The whole process is done under vacuum
conditions. First, the solid precursor material is bombarded
Vishakha S. Pahade, Mechanical Department, Dr. BAMU/PES,
Aurangabad, INDIA, (e-mail: vishakhap360@gmail.com). with a beam of electrons, so that it will give atoms of that
Pankaj S. Chavan, Mechanical Department, Dr. BAMU/DIEMS, material. These atoms are then transported into the reacting
Aurangabad, INDIA, (e-mail: pnkjchavan@gmail.com). chamber where the coating substrate is placed. While
Vaishali P. Baisane, Mechanical Department, Dr. BAMU/PESCOE,
Aurangabad, INDIA, (e-mail: vaishalibaisane06@gmail.com). transporting, atoms can react with other gases to produce a

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 A review paper on vapour deposition coating

coating material or the atoms themselves can be the coating

material. Then they deposit on the substrate making a thin
coat. PVD coating is used to reduce friction or to improve
oxidation resistance of a substance or to improve the
hardness, etc.
Hard coatings if applied by physical vapour deposition
(PVD) are principally known to have the ability to reduce tool
wear of high speed steel (HSS) and carbide metal cutting tools
[2]. The purpose of the physical vapour deposition (PVD)
process is to protect the surface steel from corrosion and wear
and then decrease their reactivity with the external medium.
Availability of tools with sharp cutting edges is essential in
light turning of small parts; so that, smooth operation is
Figure 2. Transportation process.
favoured with minimal cutting forces avoiding part
deformations and, consequently, dimensional errors. In this
Reaction:
case, PVD process is optimum for obtaining sharp edges since
In some cases coatings will consist of metal oxides,
coating layers can be applied with few microns thickness over
nitrides, carbides and other such materials. In these cases, the
a resistant substrate, which helps to maintain the edge
target will consist of the metal. The atoms of metal will then
integrity.
react with the appropriate gas during the transport stage.
The process involved four steps:
1. Evaporation
2. Transportation
3. Reaction
4. Deposition

Evaporation:
During this stage, a target, consisting of the material to be
is bombarded by a high energy source such as a beam of
electrons or ions. This dislodges atoms from the surface of the
target vaporizing them.
Figure 3. Reaction process.

Deposition:
This is the process of coating build up on the substrate
surface. Depending on the actual process, some reactions
between target materials and the reactive gases may also take
place at the substrate surface simultaneously with the
deposition process. The component that is to be coated is
placed in a vacuum chamber. The coating material is
evaporated by intense heat from, for example, a tungsten
filament. An alternative method is to evaporate the coating
material by a complex ion bombardment technique. The
coating is then formed by atoms of the coating material being
deposited onto the surface of the component being treated.

b. CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION

CVD is a method to deposit solid and form a thin film from
gaseous phase material. This method is somewhat similar to
PVD. In CVD the material is coated on a substrate material. It
is the process of diffusive convective transport of depositing
Figure 1. Evaporation process. species to a substrate with many intermolecular collisions
driven by a concentration gradient. To do this coating, the
Transportation: coating material is sent to a reaction chamber in the form of
This process simply consists of the movement of vaporized vapour having a certain temperature. Then at a reaction
atoms from the target to the substrate to be coated and will chamber, the gas reacts with the substrate, or it is decomposed
generally be a straight line affair. or deposited on a substrate. So in a CVD apparatus there
should be a gas delivery system, reacting chamber, substrate
loading mechanism and an energy supplier. Other than this the

76 www.ijeas.org
 International Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences (IJEAS)
ISSN: 2394-3661, Volume-3, Issue-6, June 2016
reaction is carried out in a vacuum to ensure that there are no some CVD processes is that there is less waste deposition,
gases other than the reacting gases. The substrate temperature especially in cold-wall reactors, because only the heated
is critical for determining the deposition. Thus there should be surfaces are coated. With the use of a laser heating system, the
a way to control the temperature and pressure inside the chemical vapour deposition process becomes selective to the
apparatus. Finally, the apparatus should have a way to remove path of the laser; this is a distinct advantage over physical
the excess gaseous waste out. The coating material should be vapour deposition methods such as sputtering. Molecular
volatile, and the same time stable in order to be converted to beam epitaxy (PVD process) has a distinct advantage of
the gaseous phase and then coat onto the substrate. Hybrids atomic level control of chemical composition, film thickness,
like SiH4, GeH4, NH3, halides, metal carbonyls, metal alkyls, and transition sharpness. This process is relatively more
and metal alkoxides are some precursors. Precursor is expensive, but is worth the added cost for applications that
introduced into a reaction chamber and is controlled by demand higher precision. Sputtering (PVD process) does not
balanced flow regulators and control valves. Precursor require the use of specialized precursor materials as used in
molecules pass by the substrate, are drawn into the boundary CVD. Sputtering has a wider range of materials readily
layer, and are deposited on the surface of the substrate. The available for deposition. Another advantage of physical
reactant gases are introduced into a reaction chamber and are vapour deposition over chemical vapour deposition is the
decomposed and reacted at a heated surface to form the thin safety issue of the materials that are used for chemical vapour
film.CVD technique is used for coating on semiconductor, deposition. It is known that some precursors and some
composites, Nano machines, optical fibres, catalyst, etc. by-products are toxic, pyrophoric, or corrosive. This can
cause issues with material handling and storage. There are
applications that could use either deposition method
successfully. However, an experienced engineer could easily
recommend chemical or physical vapour deposition for a job
based on criteria such as cost, film thickness, source material
availability, and compositional control.
Some turning applications require specific tools with
optimized geometries and coatings. For example, availability
of tools with sharp cutting edges is essential in light turning of
small parts; so that, smooth operation is favoured with
minimal cutting forces avoiding part deformations and,
Figure 4. Chemical vapour deposition process. consequently, dimensional errors. In this case, PVD process is
optimum for obtaining sharp edges since coating layers can be
Table 1: Comparison of PVD and CVD applied with few microns thickness over a resistant substrate,
Sr. PVD CVD which helps to maintain the edge integrity. On the contrary,
No. CVD coatings are featured by rounded edges due to the higher
1 Substrate Substrate bending thickness of layers (around 10 m), what make them
bending strength strength decreases. inadequate for light turning. Besides, thickness, thermal
does not decrease. properties, residual stresses and grades of adhesion are very
2 No substrates Substrate may different between CVD and PVD coatings. On one hand,
deterioration. deteriorate. PVD coatings provide resistance to wear due to their high
3 Good for Substrate may hardness. PVD coatings are characterized by compressive
anti-chipping soften. stresses which provide tenacity to the edge and improve tool
performance. reliability. PVD coatings are recommended when toughness
4 Coating Coating temp. and sharp edge is required simultaneously. Also, these coating
temp.400 -600 c 900-1100 c are recommended for machining of sticky materials.
5 Coating Coating thickness Moreover, the use of WC with fine grain size (less than a
thickness1-3m. 6- 9m. micron) improves even more the strength of PVD coated
6 Not Suitable for Suitable for mass sharp edges. On the other hand, CVD coatings are
mass production production. characterized by residual traction stresses and fissures caused
by heating, mainly due to the great difference between
Depending on the application, there are sound arguments for thermal expansions coefficients for CVD coating and hard
the use of either process (PVD or CVD). One reason to use a metal substrate. Consequently, tools with CVD coatings are
physical vapour deposition process (such as sputtering) more susceptible of reaching a rough border than tools with
instead of chemical vapour deposition is the temperature PVD coating.
requirement.CVD processes run at much higher temperatures
than PVD processes, usually between 300C and 900C. This CONCLUSION
heat is supplied by a furnace, laser, but it always heats the From the above it should be clear that a coating increases the
substrate. Substrates that cannot tolerate this temperature mechanical properties of materials. Both coating and
must have thin films deposited by the physical form of vapour substrate properties must be carefully considered to obtain a
deposition instead. The benefit of the substrate temperature in good composite material. Surface engineering is one of the
most important technologies that may contribute to a

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 A review paper on vapour deposition coating

sustainable development in the industrial world, through the

conservation of earth resources, a reduction of waste, and
energy savings. PVD coatings can be considered more
reliable and economical than CVD coatings because it
provides better mechanical properties i.e wear resistance,
hardness, thermal resistance, low coefficient friction and
tribological properties.

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coatings in the turning of austenitic stainless steels, ScienceDirect,
Procedia Engineering 63 (2013) 133 141, 2013.
[2] Titus .B. Watmon and Anthony .C. Ijeh, Coating Cutting Tools with
Hard Substance Lowers Friction Co-efficient and Improves Tool Life -
A Review Proceeding of the international multiconference of
engineers and computer scientist 2010, vol III.
[3] Kamlesh V. Chauhan, Sushant K. Rawal A review paper on
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[4] M.Y.P. Costa, M.L.R. Venditti , M.O.H. Cioffi , H.J.C. Voorwald ,
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Ti6Al4V alloy International Journal of Fatigue ,33 (2011)
759765,2011.

Miss. Vishakha S. Pahade

ME - Mechanical
Asst. Professor
PES college of Engineering
Aurangabad, MH, India

Mr. Pankaj S. Chavan.

ME - Mechanical
Asst. Professor
DIEMS, Aurangabad
MH, India

Miss Vaishali. P. Baisane

ME - Manufacturing
Asst. Professor
PES college of Engineering
Aurangabad, MH, India

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