Most PVD coaters use cathodic-arc evaporation, in which an electric arc vaporizes the coating material from a cathode. The vaporized material condenses on the tool, resulting in a wear-resistant coating imbued with whatever qualities the coater is looking to impart to the tool. But there's another, less-common physical-vapor-deposition method called high-power impulse magnetron sputtering, or HIPIMS, that combines the advantages of high ionization from cathodic-arc techniques with the superior adhesion of magnetron sputtering.
Imported from the CTE archive to seed discussion on MFGAxis.
Originally published on CTE: 2016-08-15
CTE source: https://ctemag.com/articles/one-pvd-coating-technique-certain-advantages/
Legacy path: /articles/one-pvd-coating-technique-certain-advantages