Cavitation erosion of Ti coatings produced by the vacuum arc method

Studies were made into cavitation erosion of titanium coatings in water. The coatings were produced by the vacuum arc method and differed between themselves by the presence or absence of cathode macroparticles. The macroparticles were eliminated from the condensed plasma flow by a special filtering device. The principal parameters of coating deposition process were the bias potential applied to the substrate and the substrate temperature during condensation. The coatings were examined to determine both the weight losses by specimens under the action of cavitation and the film microhardness. It is shown that the coatings deposited in the filtered flow have an improved erosion resistance in comparison with the coatings containing macroparticle inclusions