Ti0.5Al0.5N/CrN nano-multilayers, which are known to exhibit excellent wear resistances, were prepared using the unbalanced magnetron sputter for various periods of 2–7 nm. Ti0.5Al0.5N and CrN comprised a cubic structure in a single layer with different lattice parameters; however, Ti0.5Al0.5N/CrN exhibited a cubic structure with the same lattice parameters that formed the superlattice in the nano-multilayers. The Ti0.5Al0.5/CrN multilayer with a period of 5.0 nm exceeded the hardness of the Ti0.5Al0.5N/CrN single layer, attaining a value of 36 GPa. According to the low-angle X-ray diffraction, the Ti0.5Al0.5N/CrN multilayer maintained its as-coated structure up to 700oC and exhibited a hardness of 32 GPa. The thickness of the oxidation layer of the Ti0.5Al0.5N/CrN multilayered coating was less than 25% of that of the single layers. Thus, the Ti0.5Al0.5N/CrN multilayered coating was superior in terms of hardness and oxidation resistance as compared to its constituent single layers.

Multilayered coatings on tungsten carbide cutting tools are widely used for enhancing cutting performance. In this paper, we review the CVD TiC/TiCN multilayer as a function of the multilayer period. The TiC/TiCN multilayers in initial stage show preferred (220) orientation but shifts to (200) orientation with decreasing multilayer period. The nanohardness of TiC/TiCN multilayers were found to increase with decreasing multilayer period and shows a maximum of 23.8 GPa at a period = 33.5 nm.