Table 5 shows the H/E ratio of the coatings obtained by reactive deposition of (Ti + N2) and (Ti + CH4) coatings depos- ited on quenched and tempered AISI H13 tool steel. The H/E ratio also increases continuously with the increase of the N2 amount in the sputtering gas, for the range of nitrogen contents used in this work (from 3.0 to 38% of N2 in volume). For the (Ti + CH4) reactive deposition, the H/E ratio reached a maxi- mum level for a methane content of 12 vol.% in the sputter gas.
The A1 to A4 and B1 to B3 conditions of reactive (Ti + CH4) and (Ti + N2) magnetron sputtered coatings allows changing the H/E ratio of the coatings between 0.054 and 0.103. This range of H/E ratio allows to compare the effect of the H/E ratio on the coating adhesion properties. On the other hand, the H/E ratio of the substrate can be changed by plasma nitriding. The H/E ratio of the quenched and tempered H13 tool steel is 0.023. After plasma nitriding the H/E ratio rises to 0.053.