The residual stress is the key factor determining the thickness of PVD hard coatings. In present study, TiN coatings with thickness ranging from 3.7 mm to 15.5 mm are fabricated on high speed steel by multi-arc ion plating(MAIP). As the coating thickness increases, the curvatures of substrate become more pronounced yet the average residual stresses are decreased. Combining the substrate curvature method and finite element analysis(FEA), the dependences of residual stress and adhesion strength on coating thi...