Over the last ten years, surface coating engineering has become a key technology throughout the world, especially due to the successes achieved in the optics and microelectronics sectors. First advances in the wear protection field were attained with coated carbides, indicating a substantial technical and economic potential in these areas.

The development of wear protective coatings often reaches the limits of what is technically possible. For this reason, processes incorporating two different methods and combining the specific advantages of each are increasingly being developed for the deposition of certain coatings. In the study presented here, PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) technology was combined with laser surface treatment technology to produce amorphous and crystalline SiC coating phases. The objectives of the study were to establish the respective advantages of crystalline and amorphous phases. The amorphous ceramic coating exhibits excellent corrosion resistance, whereas the crystalline phases generally attain higher adhesion and superior stability at high temperatures. There are therefore technical applications for both phases.