Environmental issues related to the use of metalworking fluids during machining steps require the development of newresistant materials operating in "Near Dry Machining" or in "Dry Machining" conditions. The field of thin coatings and moreparticularly Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) enable the synthesis of resistant materials. Titanium nitride (TiN) is widely usedin industry and is an example of the efficiency of coatings. However, the poor oxidation resistance of this coating limits itsuse. On the contrary, chromium nitride (CrN) is an excellent candidate for applications at high temperatures despite its lowermechanical properties. The recent development of nanostructured coatings can overcome such inconvenience. The objectiveof this work is to study the influence of a controlled nanoscale microstructure on the durability of CrN thin films synthesizedby cathodic arc evaporation. The different microstructures are obtained by silicon or aluminum addition, or by alternatinglayers (multilayer structure).Adding aluminium to CrN leads to the formation of a solid solution and improves the mechanical properties of the coating.Resistance to oxidation is increased by the strong Al-N bonds, which limit nitrogen release, and thus delay the oxidation. Inaddition, the phase separation of CrAlN into CrN and AlN isolates the CrN grains from the surrounding atmosphere andincreases their thermal stability. The same phenomenon is detected after friction tests and seems to account for the improvedwear resistance. Silicon addition results in the formation of a nanocomposite coating for a minimum content of about 2 at.%.This structure is composed of nanometric grains embedded in an amorphous matrix. The structure change is followed by asignificant increase in the oxidation resistance, due to the diffusional barrier properties of the matrix, protecting thereby theCrN nano-grains. In contrast, a too large fraction of amorphous phase appears detrimental to the tribological behavior. Thecoating becomes brittle and is prone to cracks emergence. The use of these individual layers in a multilayer coating can avoidthis last consequence. Thanks to a micro-tensile machine, the alternating architecture was found to limit the cracks formation.Layered film seems thus to be very promising in the case of severe working conditions. Similarly, stratification between CrNand CrAlN allows the synthesis of highly sustainable coatings despite the mechanical properties governed by a law ofmixtures.The originality of this work lies in determining the degradation mechanisms of the different microstructures by establishingthe link between microstructure and wear properties on the one hand, and by in situ observation of damages on the other hand.
