Antimicrobial copper-containing titanium nitride coatings Co-deposited by arc ion plating/magnetron sputtering for protective and decorative purposes

Abstract Decorative ceramic coatings are widely utilized in sanitary ware, jewelry and mobile devices. Decorative ceramic coatings have been extensively studied in recent years, and they have evolved with the development of the aforementioned products. In this work, an arc ion plating (AIP) method (for titanium emission) was combined with magnetron sputtering (for copper emission) in a single chamber to synthesize Cu-TiN coatings in the fixed nitrogen flow. In contrast, two additional reactive atmospheres, a constant flow of oxygen and a constant mixed oxygen and acetylene flow, were applied respectively to deposit a thin amorphous TiN x O y layer and TiC x N y O z layer on the Cu-TiN coating at the final minute during deposition period and to validate decorative and protective performance on these coatings. The experimental results obtained herein reveal that Cu-TiN coatings with a thin amorphous TiN x O y layer and TiC x N y O z layer promoted the apparent hardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance over those of pre-electroplated Cu-35Zn material. First, the appearance of Cu-TiN coatings with a thin TiN x O y layer varied noticeably from golden yellow through red and blue eventually to purple, as the purging time increased (10–60 s) in a constant oxygen flow. Then the Cu-TiN coating with a thin TiC x N y O z layer, formed in a constant mixed flow of oxygen and acetylene, also exhibited a series of graded colors. With respect to protective performance, the enhancement of the Cu-TiN, Cu-TiNO 60 and Cu-TiNOC 60 coatings improved their apparent hardness at least 62.0% higher than that of pre-electroplated Cu-35Zn substrate. Notably, the apparent hardness is correlated with the wear resistance due to the existence of outermost TiN x O y and TiC x N y O z layers, in which flowing O 2  + C 2 H 2 generates TiC x N y O z on top of the Cu-TiN layer, providing a higher wear resistance than those of TiN x O y synthesized in flowing O 2 . Cu-TiN, Cu-TiNO 60 and Cu-TiNOC 60 ceramic coatings provide greater corrosion resistance than that of a pre-electroplated Cu-35Zn substrate and finally reach a stable current density in the passive region to 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. In summary, a Cu-TiN coating can be both modestly protective and have tunable colors because of the nature of golden yellow and hard coating for TiN ceramic and the existence of the outermost TiN x O y and TiC x N y O z layers.