The vacuum-arc plasma-assisted method was used to deposit a multilayer coating based on Ti and Al in two discharge systems - in a traditional plasma-assisted vacuum-arc spraying system and in a system for generating of gas-metal beam-plasma formation formed in a hollow cathode of a non-self-sustained low pressure glow discharge. The coatings obtained in the investigated discharge schemes are close in elemental and phase composition. In the coating deposited in the plasma-beam formation, the aluminum content is 8% lower, which is probably due to the overall higher average value of the ion flux density on the surface of the growing film in a non-self-sustained glow discharge. In the coating obtained by sputtering in a beam-plasma formation, there are no elements that are part of the material of the sputtered hollow cathode. Gas-metal beam-plasma formations, formed at low pressure, are promising in the processes of functional coatings deposition by the vacuum-arc plasma-assisted method.
Transition characteristics of low-pressure discharges in a hollow cathode