Abstract
Coatings are extensively used as corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and antibacterial surfaces. Copper and copper alloys are among the most widely applied coating materials for industrial and medical applications. In this work, mechanical assessment of Cu, Cu 4%Sn, Cu 17%Ni 10%Zn (German Silver), and Cu 17%Al 1%Fe coatings deposited on stainless steel 316L substrates using twin wire arc thermal spraying is studied experimentally. Microstructure, hardness, and scratch resistance were studied for all coated samples. The effects of having different coating compositions on the mechanical properties are analyzed. The effect of the coatings thickness is also investigated for Cu 17%Ni 10%Zn and Cu 17%Al 1%Fe coatings with different thicknesses between 200 and \(400\,\upmu \hbox {m}\). The study focused on how the scratch resistance increases with increasing the coating thickness on the expense of the adhesion. A comparison of the coating hardness profile between different copper and copper alloy compositions was presented. An interesting observation was that even though scratch hardness increases with the coating thickness, hardness decreases as a function of the distance from the interface.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sharifahmadian, O.; Salimijazi, H.R.; Fathi, M.H.; Mostaghimi, J.; Pershin, L.: Relationship between surface properties and antibacterial behavior of wire arc spray copper coatings. Surf. Coat. Technol. 233, 74–79 (2013)
Zhang, E.; Li, F.; Wang, H.; Liu, J.; Wang, C.; Li, M.; Yang, K.: A new antibacterial titanium–copper sintered alloy: preparation and antibacterial property. Mater. Sci. Eng. C. Mater. Biol. Appl. 33(7), 42807 (2013)
Jin, X.; Gao, L.; Liu, E.; Yu, F.; Shu, X.; Wang, H.: Microstructure, corrosion and tribological and antibacterial properties of Ti–Cu coated stainless steel. J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 50, 23–32 (2015)
Wu, H.; Zhang, X.; Geng, Z.; Yin, Y.; Hang, R.; Huang, X.; Yao, X.; Tang, B.: Preparation, antibacterial effects and corrosion resistant of porous Cu–TiO\(_2\) coatings. Appl. Surf. Sci. 308, 43–49 (2014)
Jaiswal, S.; McHale, P.; Duffy, B.: Preparation and rapid analysis of antibacterial silver, copper and zinc doped sol–gel surfaces. Colloids Surf. B Biointerfaces 94, 1706 (2012)
Li, W.; Lu, Y.; Yuan, K.; Yuan, C.: Effects of cerium on microstructure and bonding strength of Cu–14Al–4.5Fe bronze plasma sprayed coating. J. Rare Earths 29(4), 363–369 (2011)
Culha, O.; Celik, E.; Ak Azem, N.F.; Birlik, I.; Toparli, M.; Turk, a: Microstructural, thermal and mechanical properties of HVOF sprayed Ni–Al-based bond coatings on stainless steel substrate. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 204(1–3), 221–230 (2008)
Santana, Y.Y.; Renault, P.O.; Sebastiani, M.; La Barbera, J.G.; Lesage, J.; Bemporad, E.; Le Bourhis, E.; Puchi-Cabrera, E.S.; Staia, M.H.: Characterization and residual stresses of WC–Co thermally sprayed coatings. Surf. Coat. Technol. 202(18), 4560–4565 (2008)
Deshpande, S.; Sampath, S.; Zhang, H.: Mechanisms of oxidation and its role in microstructural evolution of metallic thermal spray coatings—case study for Ni–Al. Surf. Coat. Technol. 200(18–19), 5395–5406 (2006)
Planche, M.P.; Liao, H.; Coddet, C.: Relationships between in-flight particle characteristics and coating microstructure with a twin wire arc spray process and different working conditions. Surf. Coat. Technol. 182(2–3), 215–226 (2004)
Eason, P.D.; Fewkes, Ja; Kennett, S.C.; Eden, T.J.; Tello, K.; Kaufman, M.J.; Tiryakioğlu, M.: On the characterization of bulk copper produced by cold gas dynamic spray processing in as fabricated and annealed conditions. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 528(28), 8174–8178 (2011)
Qian, J.; Yin, Y.; Li, T.; Hu, X.; Wang, C.; Li, S.: Structure, micro-hardness and corrosion behaviour of the Al–Si/Al\(_2\)O\(_3\) coatings prepared by laser plasma hybrid spraying on magnesium alloy. Vacuum 117, 55–59 (2015)
Bull, S.J.; Berasetegui, E.G.E.: Chapter 7 An Overview of the Potential of Quantitative Coating Adhesion Measurement by Scratch Testing, 15th edn. Elsevier Masson SAS, Amsterdam (2006)
Briscoe, B.J.; Evans, P.D.; Biswas, S.K.; Sinha, S.K.: The hardnesses of poly(methylmethacrylate). Tribol. Int. 29(2), 93–104 (1996)
Beegan, D.; Chowdhury, S.; Laugier, M.T.: Comparison between nanoindentation and scratch test hardness (scratch hardness) values of copper thin films on oxidised silicon substrates. Surf. Coat. Technol. 201(12), 5804–5808 (2007)
Sinha, S.K.; Song, T.; Wan, X.; Tong, Y.: Scratch and normal hardness characteristics of polyamide 6/nano-clay composite. Wear 266(7–8), 814–821 (2009)
Chen, Z.; Wu, L.Y.L.: Scratch Damage Resistance of Silica-Based Sol–Gel Coatings on Polymeric Substrates, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2013)
Gedzevicius, I.; Valiulis, A.V.: Analysis of wire arc spraying process variables on coatings properties. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 175(1–3), 206–211 (2006)
Pistofidis, N.; Vourlias, G.; Pavlidou, E.; Patsalas, P.; Stergioudis, G.; Polychroniadis, E.K.: Study of the structure and morphology of plasma-sprayed tin coating. Surf. Coat. Technol. 200, 6245–6250 (2006)
Kudashov, D.V.; Zauter, R.; Müller, H.R.: Spray-formed high-aluminium bronzes. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 477(1–2), 43–49 (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Al-Athel, K.S., Ibrahim, M., Arif, A.F.M. et al. Effect of Composition and Thickness on the Hardness and Scratch Resistance of Copper and Copper Alloy Coatings. Arab J Sci Eng 42, 4895–4904 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2661-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2661-5