A piston ring may include a stainless steel base having between 8% and 15% by weight of chromium, together with other elements and impurities, and having a hardness between 350 HV and 420 HV. The piston ring may also include a superficial nitrided layer having a depth of no more than 60 μm and an average hardness measured upon the surface exceeding 800 HV. The nitrided layer may include a plurality of nitride particles, which may have a maximum size of 5 μm and may be distributed over between 4% and 8% of an area of the nitrided layer.

The present disclosure provides a multilayer coated cutting material having increased wear resistance at high temperatures, a method for manufacturing the same, and a cutting tool insert for mechanical machining including the same. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the multilayer coated cutting material includes a cemented carbide, cermet, ceramic, a cubic crystal boron nitride-based material or a hard alloy body of high-speed steel, and a cutting layer positioned on the base material and configured in multiple layers.

In a surface-coated cutting tool in which a hard coating layer having a total layer thickness of 0.5 to 10 μm is deposited on a surface of a tool body made of WC-based cemented carbide or TiCN-based cermet, the hard coating layer has an alternately laminated structure of A layers and B layers, in a case where the A layer is: (Al.sub.aTi.sub.1-a)N (here, a is in atomic ratio), the A layer satisfies 0.50≦a<0.75, in a case where the B layer is: (Al.sub.bTi.sub.1-b)N (here, b is in atomic ratio), the B layer satisfies 0.75≦b≦0.95, and when a layer thickness per layer of the A layers is represented by x (nm) and a layer thickness per layer of the B layers is represented by y (nm), 5y≧x≧3y and 250 (nm)≧x+y≧100 (nm) are satisfied.

A method to increase the damping of a substrate using a face-centered cubic ferromagnetic damping material.

The present invention describes an improved multilayer solar selective coating useful for solar thermal power generation. Solar selective coating of present invention essentially consists of Ti/Chrome interlayer, two absorber layers (AlTiN and AlTiON) an anti-reflection layer (AlTiO). Coating deposition process uses Ti and Al as the source materials, which are abundantly available and easy to manufacture as sputtering targets for industrial applications. The present invention allows deposition of all the layers in a single sputtering chamber on flat and tubular substrates with high absorptance and low emittance, thus making the process simpler and cost effective. The process of the present invention can be up-scaled easily for deposition on longer tubes with good uniformity and reproducibility. The coating of the present invention also displays improved adhesion, UV stability, corrosion resistance and stability under extreme environments.

A piezoelectric member that achieves a high sound speed includes a silicon-containing substrate and a piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric layer is disposed on the silicon-containing substrate. At least a surface layer of the piezoelectric layer on a side opposite to the silicon-containing substrate is made of B.sub.xAl.sub.1-xN (0<x≦0.2).

The present disclosure provides a multilayer coated cutting material having increased wear resistance at high temperatures, a method for manufacturing the same, and a cutting tool insert for mechanical machining including the same. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the multilayer coated cutting material includes a cemented carbide, cermet, ceramic, a cubic crystal boron nitride-based material or a hard alloy body of high-speed steel, and a cutting layer positioned on the base material and configured in multiple layers.

A cutting implement including a metal substrate and a coating is provided. The coating has zirconium PVD (ZrCRTiNO), which provides protection against corrosion of the metal substrate. In some instances, the zirconium PVD provides protection from corrosion for at least 200 hours. A layer of titanium nitride (TiN) can be added to the coating to increase the hardness of the metal substrate. In such an embodiment, the layer of titanium nitride (TiN) is applied before the zirconium PVD (ZrCRTiNO). Titanium nitride (TiN) coated steel is 3 to 5 times harder than uncoated steel. Thus, a combination of titanium nitride (TiN) and zirconium PVD (ZrCRTiNO) as a coating on a metal substrate can increase the life of the metal substrate by providing increased hardness and anti-corrosive properties.

A method for producing a tool coated with a hard coating, the method including the following steps: applying a TiAlN coating layer onto a substrate with a first magnetron sputtering process and applying a Ti.sub.xSi.sub.1-xN coating layer onto the TiAlN layer with a second magnetron sputtering process, where x is smaller than or equal to 0.85 and preferably between and including 0.80 and 0. 70 whereas the second magnetron sputtering process is performed with power densities greater than 100 W/cm.sup.2 and as such is a HIPIMS process.

There are provided: a sintered material having an excellent wear resistance even under a high speed cutting condition; a tool using the sintered material; and a method of producing the sintered material. The sintered material includes: a first particle group including a particle having a cubic rock-salt structure represented by Al.sub.(1-x)Cr.sub.xN (formula (1)) (where x satisfies 0.2≦x≦0.8); and a second particle group including a particle of at least one first compound selected from a group consisting of oxide and oxynitride of aluminum, zirconium, yttrium, magnesium, and hafnium.