Abstract:Precision glass moulding is a replicative process that allows the production of high precision optical components from glass without grinding and polishing. In order to enhance the mould insert"s lifetime, protective coatings can be applied. In this study, Re, Ir monolayer and Re/Ir multilayer were deposited on the WC substrate by RF magnetron sputtering deposition system respectively. SEM, XRD, Nano Indenter and contour graph were used to characterize those protective coatings. The wetting angle at high temperature was adopted to evaluate the sticking situation between mould and D-ZK3 glass. The results demonstrated that the mechanical property and antistick performance of the mould after coating were both improved significantly. Re/Ir multilayer shows best antistik capability as well as mechanical property among these three types of coating. Meanwhile, the glass after wetting contact test with Re/Ir multilayer coating still have high transparency, which demonstrate that almost no interfacial reaction between glass gob and protective coating happened. This study displays a promising application of Re/Ir multilayer protective coating in glass moulding technology.