Coatings are utilized to enhance the surface properties of materials. This study aimed to modify the TiN coating with a novel sandwich-zigzag intermediate layer and delve into the intricate damage mechanisms under harsh corrosion-erosion coupling environments. Due to the infiltration of NaCl into the coating and the subsequent formation of TiO2, the sandwich-zigzag TiN coatings exhibited a reduction in mechanical behavior and erosion resistance when exposed to salt spray at 550 °C for 50 h. Moreover, the erosion rates of the as-corroded TiN coatings displayed an opposite trend compared to that of the as-deposited coatings, showing that the erosion rate was highest at the erosion angle of 30°. Nevertheless, the presence of the zigzag-TiN intermediate layer benefited the coating by preventing stress accumulation and heterogeneous interface. This ultimately improved the erosion resistance of the coatings by more than 2 times at universal erosion angle compared to that of the substrates under the synergistic effects of corrosion and erosion.
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