Cr and Al coating were respectively deposited on Zr-4 alloy by magnetron sputtering and high temperature oxidation (HTO) tests were conducted in air environment at 1200 °C for 3 h for Cr-coated and Al-coated specimens. The morphology and phase composition of the specimens were detected by SEM, EDS and XRD. The adhesion properties were characterized by scratch test. The XRD results revealed that the two coatings were crystalline with preferred orientation. The results of scratch testing showed that critical load of Cr coating was higher than that of Al coating. After HTO test, the Cr-coated specimen was intact without cracking and spalling off, only the outermost layer of Cr coating was oxidized to a Cr₂O₃ layer of about 4 μm thick with a residual Cr layer of about 4 μm thick, and the internal zirconium alloy was not oxidized. For Al-coated specimen, besides the complete oxidation of the Al coating, there were also about 500 μm Zr-4 alloy oxidized on each side, and there were a lot of voids and cracks in the specimen. The EDS results indicated that a thickness of about 5 μm Cr-Zr diffusion layer developed at the interface between Cr coating and Zr-4 alloy for the Cr-coated Zr-4 specimen. While, for the Al-coated Zr-4 specimen, Al diffused into the specimen to a depth of about 100 μm, and Zr diffused almost to the outermost layer. Moreover, Sn in the Zr-4 alloy is concentrated at the interface between the residual Zr-4 alloy and ZrO₂ layer. The obtained results manifested that Cr coating shows better oxidation resistance than Al coating.

通过磁控溅射分别在Zr-4合金上沉积Cr和Al涂层，并在1200°C的空气环境中对Cr涂层和Al涂层样品进行了3小时的高温氧化（HTO）测试。用SEM，EDS和XRD检测样品的形貌和相组成。通过刮擦测试表征粘合性能。XRD结果表明，两个涂层是具有优选取向的结晶。划痕试验结果表明，Cr涂层的临界载荷高于Al涂层。经过HTO测试后，镀铬的样品完好无损，没有破裂和剥落，只有镀铬的最外层被氧化为Cr ₂ O _3。约4μm厚的Cr层，残留约4μm厚的Cr层，内部的锆合金未被氧化。对于涂有铝的样品，除了铝涂层的完全氧化外，每侧还氧化了约500μm的Zr-4合金，并且样品中还存在许多空隙和裂纹。EDS结果表明，对于Cr涂层Zr-4试样，在Cr涂层与Zr-4合金之间的界面处形成了约5μm的Cr-Zr扩散层。而对于镀铝的Zr-4样品，Al扩散到样品中的深度约为100μm，而Zr几乎扩散到最外层。此外，Zr-4合金中的Sn集中在残余Zr-4合金和ZrO ₂之间的界面处。层。所得结果表明，Cr涂层显示出比Al涂层更好的抗氧化性。