Effect of gas pressure and bias potential on oxidation resistance of Cr coatings

Highlights: • Effect of gas pressure and bias potential on oxidation resistance of Cr coatings. • Nonmonotonic relationship among gas pressure, bias potential and oxidation. • Cr coatings play an effective role in protection of Zircaloy at high temperatures. - Abstract: Cr coatings were deposited by multi-arc ion plating under different gas pressures and bias potentials, and the oxidation behaviors of the coatings in air at various temperatures (max = 1060 °C) were investigated. The Cr coating structure could be modulated by varying the gas pressure and the bias potential, which affected its oxidation performance. The relationship among the gas pressure, the bias potential, and the oxidation performance was nonmonotonic. The formation of Cr₂O₃ caused a reduction in the oxidation weight gain of Zircaloy by 93.35%, indicating that our Cr coating played an effective role in the protection of Zircaloy at high temperatures.