“…In contrast, physical vapor deposition (PVD) coatings, such as those deposited by cathodic arc evaporation (CAE) [14][15][16], sputtering, balanced magnetron sputtering (BMS), unbalanced magnetron sputtering (UBMS), and high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) [17,18], among others, are rarely used in highly corrosion-aggressive environments such as the conditions found in offshore oil exploration. Direct application of PVD coatings on carbon or low-alloy steels presents limitations, including a low thickness (often less than 5 µm) that increases the risk of a coating system failure and epitaxial growth, which allows corrosion media to permeate into the coating and reach the steel substrate [17,19].…”