In this study, multilayered AlTiN/ZrN and AlTiN/CrN/ZrN coatings with CrN layer addition were prepared by cathodic arc evaporation (CAE) system using AlTi target, Cr target and Zr targets. According to the XRD and TEM experimental results, the coatings are all B1 NaCl structure, and the columnar structure continues from the bottom CrN to the top multilayered coating and the growth of the columns is not interrupted. After CrN addition, the AlTiN/CrN/ZrN coating consisted of ZrN, AlTiN and CrN multilayers. By increasing the cathode current of Cr, thicker CrN layers were obtained. The nanoindentation results showed that the AlTiZrN had the highest hardness of 30.4 GPa and residual stress of −3.1 GPa, mainly due to the contribution of ZrN into AlTiN. The multilayered Al₁₂Ti₇Cr₁₂Zr₂₂N and Al₈Ti₅Cr₂₁Zr₁₇N coatings with different CrN layer thicknesses had lower hardness values. Compared to the low hardness of CrN (~18 GPa), the multilayered AlTiN/CrN/ZrN coating still possessed high hardness enough. In addition, after CrN addition, the multilayered Al₁₂Ti₇Cr₁₂Zr₂₂N and Al₈Ti₅Cr₂₁Zr₁₇N coatings had lower residual stresses (−1.6–2.6 GPa). The low residual stress of the hard coating is beneficial for tribological applications. For the ball-on-disc tribological tests, although the AlTiN/ZrN coating had the highest hardness but it had the highest wear rate (4.96 × 10⁻⁶ mm³/Nm). The multilayered Al₁₂Ti₇Cr₁₂Zr₂₂N coatings with thin CrN layer addition and small Cr content had the best wear performance with the lowest wear rate of 4.21 × 10⁻⁷ mm³/Nm. The results showed that the special multilayered AlTiN/CrN/ZrN hard coating possessed better wear performance than that of AlTiN/ZrN coating, which was due to the fact that the multilayer architecture with CrN addition effectively released the internal stress to resist abrasion wear.

在这项研究中，使用 AlTi 靶材、Cr 靶材和 Zr 靶材通过阴极电弧蒸发 (CAE) 系统制备了多层 AlTiN/ZrN 和添加 CrN 层的 AlTiN/CrN/ZrN 涂层。根据XRD和TEM实验结果，涂层均为B1 NaCl结构，柱状结构从底部CrN一直延伸到顶部多层涂层，柱状生长不中断。添加 CrN 后，AlTiN/CrN/ZrN 涂层由 ZrN、AlTiN 和 CrN 多层组成。通过增加 Cr 的阴极电流，得到更厚的 CrN 层。纳米压痕结果表明，AlTiZrN 的最高硬度为 30.4 GPa，残余应力为 -3.1 GPa，主要是由于 ZrN 对 AlTiN 的贡献。多层 Al ₁₂ Ti ₇ Cr_{具有不同CrN层厚度的12} Zr ₂₂ N和Al ₈ Ti ₅ Cr ₂₁ Zr ₁₇ N涂层具有较低的硬度值。与 CrN 的低硬度（~18 GPa）相比，多层 AlTiN/CrN/ZrN 涂层仍然具有足够高的硬度。此外，在添加CrN后，多层Al ₁₂ Ti ₇ Cr ₁₂ Zr ₂₂ N和Al ₈ Ti ₅ Cr ₂₁ Zr ₁₇N 涂层具有较低的残余应力（-1.6-2.6 GPa）。硬涂层的低残余应力有利于摩擦学应用。对于球盘摩擦学测试，虽然AlTiN/ZrN涂层的硬度最高，但磨损率最高（4.96×10 ^-6  mm ³ /Nm）。添加薄CrN层和少量Cr含量的多层Al ₁₂ Ti ₇ Cr ₁₂ Zr ₂₂ N涂层具有最好的磨损性能，最低磨损率为4.21×10 ^-7  mm ³/Nm。结果表明，特殊的多层AlTiN/CrN/ZrN硬质涂层比AlTiN/ZrN涂层具有更好的耐磨性能，这是由于添加CrN的多层结构有效地释放了内应力以抵抗磨损。