Coated articles and methods for applying coatings are described. In some cases, the coating can exhibit desirable properties and characteristics such as durability, corrosion resistance, and high conductivity. The articles may be coated, for example, using an electrodeposition process.

A cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating layer provided on the substrate, the coating layer including a multilayer structure layer composed of a first unit layer and a second unit layer, and a lone layer, the lone layer including cubic Ti.sub.zAl.sub.1-zN crystal grains, an atomic ratio z of Ti in the Ti.sub.zAl.sub.1-zN being 0.5 or more and 0.65 or less, the lone layer having a thickness with an average value of 2.5 nm or more and 10 nm or less, the multilayer structure layer having a thickness with an average value of 10 nm or more and 95 nm or less, one multilayer structure layer and one lone layer forming a repetitive unit having a thickness with an average value of 30 nm to 70 nm, a maximum value of 40 nm to 100 nm, and a minimum value of 20 nm to 40 nm.

A flat steel product for hot forming may be produced from a steel substrate that includes a steel comprising 0.1-3% by weight Mn and up to 0.01% by weight B, along with a protective coating that is applied to the steel substrate. The protective coating may be based on Al and may contain up to 20% by weight of other alloy elements. Also disclosed are methods for producing such flat steel products, steel components, and methods for producing steel components. Absorption of hydrogen is minimized during heating necessary for hot forming. This is achieved at least in part through an alloy constituent of 0.1-0.5% by weight of at least one alkaline earth or transition metal in the protective coating, wherein an oxide of the alkaline earth or transition metal is formed on an outer surface of the protective coating during hot forming of the flat steel product.

A surface-coated cutting tool includes a base material and a coating formed on the base material. The coating includes an α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer containing a plurality of α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 crystal grains. The α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer includes: a first region made up of an edge ridgeline, a region A of a rake face, and a region B of a flank face; a second region which is a region of the rake face except for the region A and covered with the coating; and a third region which is a region of the flank face except for the region B. The α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer satisfies a relation b−a>0.5, where a is an average value of a TC(006) in the first region in texture coefficient TC(hkl) and b is an average value of the TC(006) in the second region or the third region in texture coefficient TC(hkl).

Disclosed is a hot-dip Al—Zn alloy coated steel sheet having excellent anti-corrosion property after coating, and a method for producing the same. In the disclosure, the hot-dip Al—Zn alloy coated steel sheet has a hot-dip coating layer containing by mass %, Al: 25% to 90%, and at least one of Sn: 0.01% to 2.0%, In: 0.01% to 10%, and Bi: 0.01% to 2.0%.

A cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating that coats the substrate, the coating including an α-alumina layer provided on the substrate, the α-alumina layer including crystal grains of α-alumina, the α-alumina layer including a lower portion and an upper portion, the upper portion being occupied in area at a ratio of 50% or more by crystal grains of α-alumina having a (006) plane with a normal thereto having a direction within ±15° with respect to a direction of the normal to the second interface, the lower portion being occupied in area at a ratio of 50% or more by crystal grains of α-alumina having a (006) plane with a normal thereto having a direction within ±15° with respect to the direction of the normal to the second interface, the α-alumina layer having a thickness of 3 μm or more and 20 μm or less.

A coated cutting tool has a hard coating on a surface of a base material. The hard coating is a nitride of Al, Cr, and Si in which Al is 50 atom % or more, Cr is 30 atom % or more, and Si is 1 atom % or more and 5 atom % or less. The hard coating contains 0.02 atom % or less of Ar, and the atomic ratio A and the atomic ratio B of nitrogen satisfy the relationship of 1.02≤B/A≤1.10, and a diffraction peak originating from the (111) plane of a face-centered cubic lattice structure shows the maximum intensity. In the cross-sectional observation of the hard coating, the number of droplets having an equivalent circle diameter of 3 μm or more is less than 1 per 100 μm.sup.2. The surface of the hard coating has an arithmetical mean curvature Spc value of 5000 or less.

In one aspect, methods of making coated articles are described herein. A method, in some embodiments, comprises providing a substrate, and depositing a coating by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and/or physical vapor deposition (PVD) over a surface of the substrate, the coating comprising at least one polycrystalline layer, wherein one or more CVD and/or PVD conditions are selected to induce one or more properties of the polycrystalline layer. The presence of the one or more properties in the polycrystalline layer is quantified by two-dimensional (2D) X-ray diffraction analysis.

A wiring board and a method for manufacturing the wiring board in which an initial Cu plated layer is formed by plating so as to cover the surface of a metallized layer and then the initial Cu plated layer is heated to be softened or melted. Copper in the softened or melted initial Cu plated layer enters into open pore portions of the metallized layer. In addition, during the heating, components of the metallized layer and components of the initial Cu plated layer are mutually thermally diffused. Consequently, when solidified later (that is, when the initial Cu plated layer becomes a lower Cu plated layer), the adhesiveness between the metallized layer and the lower Cu plated layer is improved due to, for example, an anchoring effect and a mutual thermal diffusion effect.

Provided is an alloy-plated steel material that can be used in home appliances, automobiles, and construction materials and the like and, more particularly, to an alloy-plated steel material having excellent corrosion resistance and high surface quality.