Cathodic arc evaporated coatings contain residual stress due to the difference in the thermal coefficient between the substrate and the coating. Furthermore, the coating also contains defects such as pinholes and macroparticles which can be detrimental to the mechanical, tribological, and electrochemical properties of the deposited coatings. Post-deposition annealing has been proven to improve the properties of the material due to its ability to reduce residual stress and defects. The study aims to find the optimal annealing temperature for CrN/CrAlN coating and also evaluate the effect of annealing on the phases, hardness, wear, and corrosion. In this study, CrN/CrAlN multilayer coating was deposition AISI 304 substrates using the cathodic arc evaporation physical vapor deposition method (CAE-PVD). Thereafter, the samples were annealed in a vacuum furnace at 400, 500, 600, and 700 ℃. Characterization techniques were used to evaluate the effect of annealing on the mechanical properties, tribological behavior, and electrochemical properties of CrN/CrAlN multilayer coating. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to identify the phases, texture coefficient, and crystallite sizes. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to analyze the surface morphology and also used to analyze the cross-section morphology. Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDS) was utilized to analyze the elementary composition of the coating. An atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to analyze the surface topography and the roughness of the coating. The contact angle technique was used to evaluate the wettability of the coating. Rockwell-C adhesion test was used to evaluate the quality of the adhesion between the coating and the substrate. Nanoindentation test was used to investigate the evolution of the mechanical properties of the coating. The wear rate and wear morphology were characterized using a ball-on disk tribometer in ambient air and Ringer’s solution. The electrochemical properties of the
