Development of thermal sprayed thin copper coatings

Development of thermal sprayedthin copper coatings Satish Tailor*,Ankur Modi,S.C.Modi Metallizing Equipment Co. Pvt. Ltd., E-101, M. I. A., Phase-II, Basni, Jodhpur, India. *Corresponding author dr.saty@yahoo.in, dgm_rnd@mecpl.com Abstract Thermal spraying technologies are widely used to fabricate quality thick metallic andceramic coatings for variousapplications. In all sectors of industry today,demandsbetter, faster and cheaper methods of production, as it seems that manufacturing demands are ever-increasing.However, if the coating thicknesses bellow 50microns are demandedas the resultofeconomicortechnological requirements,this often constitutes a challengeforthe established thermal spraying processes. For this purpose, in the present work, anattempt has been made to deposit a thin metallic coating below 40 microns by thermal spraying through wire feedstock materials rather than using an expensive powder as feedstock. Fora broadspectrum ofcopper (Cu)applications, Cuis deposited on the low carbonsteel substratesusingfast, easyandeconomical Wire-HighVelocity Oxy-Fuel(W ® HVOF) thermalspraysystem (trade name-HIJET 9610) andtested. As-sprayedcoatings were analyzedusingx-raydiffraction (XRD),scanningelectron microscopy(SEM)forphase andmicrostructural analysis respectively.Coating microhardness, surface roughness,andporosity were also measured. Adhesion strength tests were conducted to determine the bondstrengthofthe as-sprayedcoatings.Results showthat the coating deposited by WHVOF hasacceptableproperties andgain a direct economical advantageandtime savingprocess, often over established thin coating techniques like plating. Keywords: Wire-HVOF, Thin Thermal spray coating, Microstructure, Porosity, Hardness, Adhesion strength