Homogeneous Coating of the Inner Walls of Metal Tubes by Ion Beam Sputter Deposition

Abstract

Tubes are often required to exhibit better performance in corrosion and wear behaviour than the material the tube is made of can offer. The situation can be improved when the tube is coated with a protective film. This is possible with ion beam sputter coating. A conical or elliptical sputter target is moved through the tube. A well collimated ion beam enters the tube parallel to its axis and impinges onto the target. Thus, material is sputtered from the target onto the inner walls of the tube. With this method, tubes of different materials were coated, such as steel with TiN.