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An Overview of Research Work in Surface Coating

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ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)
An Overview of Research Work in Surface Coating
1
Vineet Shibe, 2Vikas Chawla
1
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., Punjab Tech. University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India
2
DAV College of Engineering and Technology, Kanina, Mohindergarh, Haryana, India
Abstract
Surface coating is an economic method for the production of
materials, tools and machine parts that require the desired
surface properties such as corrosion, erosion and wear resistance.
Individuals and industry tend to focus on the wearing surface
that has the greatest impact on their own economic situation.
Research is going on over years to reduce the corrosion, erosion
and wear either in the form of using a new corrosion, erosion
and wear resistant material or by improving these properties in
the existing material by using surface coating methods. In this
paper an attempt has been made to review the work of some
researchers who conducted the experimental studies on different
surface coatings, which are employed on the substrate surface of
material by different methods. The various coating methods used
and their advantages have been discussed.
Keywords
Surface coatings, Thermal Spraying, Abrasive Wear
I. Introduction
Corrosion is an unintentional gradual degradation of metal that
occurs because of chemical or electrochemical attack. As a result
of corrosion metal gets converted to its compounds such as oxides,
chlorides, nitrides, sulphides, etc depending upon the environment.
Corrosion may be classified as dry corrosion, wet corrosion and
hot corrosion.
Erosion is the removal of material from a surface by high velocity
fluids containing solid particles, or small drops of liquid or gas.
It is the progressive loss of original material from a solid surface
due to mechanical interaction between that surface and a fluid, a
multi-component fluid of impinging liquid or solid particles.
When two surfaces are in contact, wear occurs on both of them.
Wear is the predominant factor that controls the life of any machine
part. Most worn parts don’t fail from a single mode of wear, but
from a combination of modes, such as abrasion and erosion etc.
Wear is a process of removal of material from one or both of
two surfaces in solid state [1]. It occurs when solid surfaces
are in sliding or rolling motion relative to each other. In well-
designed tribological systems, the removal of material is usually
a very slow process but it is very steady and continuous [2]. Wear
related failure of machinery components counts as one of the
major reasons for inefficient working of machines in a variety of
engineering applications.
These wear and corrosion related problems can be minimized
mainly by following two methods [3]:
• By using high cost wear resistant alloys/metals better than
the existing low cost ones.
• By improving the wear resistance of the existing metals and
alloys by applying certain modifications to the surface.
Serviceable engineering components not only rely on their bulk
material properties but also on the design and characteristics of
their surface [4]. The behavior of a material is therefore greatly
dependent on the surface of a material, surface area in contact
and the environment under which the material must operate. The
surface of these components may require certain treatments (called
surface engineering) to enhance the surface characteristics. The
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IJRMET Vol. 3, Issue 2, May - Oct 2013
surface characteristics of engineering materials have a significant
effect on the serviceability and life of a component thus cannot
be neglected in design [4]. Wear resistance of materials can be
improved through surface modification techniques. Surface
coatings may improve the surface’s resistance to corrosion,
erosion, impact breaks and abrasive wear.
Surface engineering can be defined as the branch of science that
deals with methods for achieving the desired surface requirements
and their behavior in service for engineering components [5].
The effect of surfacing on component life and performance will
depend upon the surface material, alloy, service conditions and
the application process [6].
In this paper an attempt has been made to review the work of some
researchers who conducted the experimental studies on different
surface coatings. The various coating methods used and their
advantages have been discussed.
II. Surface Coating Methods
Surface coating methods are classified as under:
• Thermal Spraying (Metal Spraying)
• Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)
• Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)
A. Thermal Spraying
It is a group of processes wherein a feedstock material is heated
and propelled as individual particles or droplets onto a surface.
Sprayed particles impinge upon the surface, they cool and build
up, splat by splat, into a laminar structure forming the thermal
spray coating. A detonation gun unit mainly consists of a doubled
walled barrel, a combustion chamber, a powder feeder, control
panels to regulate gas flows and gas operation. The set-up also
includes an appropriate manipulator to hold the work piece and
control its movements. A barrel is filled with a small amount of
powder and an explosive oxygen-acetylene mixture. With the use
of a spark plug, the mixture is ignited. After ignition, a detonation
wave accelerates and heats the entrained powder particles. Instead
of a continuous combustion process, it uses an intermittent series
of explosions to melt and propel the particles onto the substrate.
After each detonation, the barrel is purged with nitrogen. This step
is essential to remove all remaining “hot” powder particles from
the chamber; otherwise these can detonate the explosive mixture in
an irregular fashion. With this, one detonation cycle is completed.
The above procedure is repeated at a particular frequency until the
required thickness of coating is deposited. The process produces
noise levels that can exceed 140 decibels and requires special
sound and explosion proof rooms. Depending upon the ratio of
the combustion gases, the temperature of the hot gas stream can
go up to 3890°C and the velocity of the shock wave can reach
3500m/s. Depending on the required coating thickness and the
type of coating material the detonation spraying cycle can be
repeated at the rate of 1-10 shots per second.
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B. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

It involves the dissociation and/or chemical reactions of gaseous
reactants in a activated (heat, light, plasma) environment, followed
by the formation of a stable solid product. The deposition involves
homogeneous gas phase reactions, which occur in the gas phase,
and/or heterogeneous chemical reactions which occur on/near the
vicinity of a heated surface leading to the formation of powders
or films, respectively.
Advantages of Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method are:
• The capability of producing highly dense and pure
materials.
• Produces uniform films with good reproducibility and
adhesion at reasonably high deposition rates.
• CVD is a non-line-of-sight process with good throwing
Fig. 1: Thermal Spray power. Therefore, it can be used to uniformly coat complex
shaped components and deposit films with good conformal
coverage.
• It has the ability to control crystal structure, surface morphology
and orientation of the CVD products by controlling the CVD
process parameters.
• Deposition rate can be adjusted readily.
• Low deposition rate is favored for the growth of epitaxial
thin films for microelectronic applications. However, for the
deposition of thick protective coatings, a high deposition rate
is preferred and it can be greater than tens of mm per hour.
This is substantially exceeded only by techniques such as
plasma spraying.

C. Physical Vapor Decomposition (PVD)

It is based on separating atoms from surfaces and accumulating
(atomic or ionic) them to sub material surface to be coated, by
evaporating or sloping materials under vacuum. Coating material,
in PVD method, is transmitted to surface in atomic, molecular
or ionic form, obtaining it not chemically but physically from
solid, liquid and gas source. Chemical reactions can exist on
main material surface too colder than CVD coating (50500 °C);
however such a reaction formation is no necessary. It is more
interesting that PVD operation is performed in relatively lower
Fig. 2: General Thermal Spray Process temperatures. In addition, after completion of coating micro
structure and properties of main material are not affected. PVD
Advantages of detonation spray coating process are: Method is carried out by three methods called as evaporating,
• Low substrate temperature dispersion and ionic coating.
• Low cost of operation Advantages of Physical Vapour Decomposition (PVD) coatings
• Less gas consumption are:
• Less scrap • Covered material reaches very high surface hardness levels
• High bond strength (3000 – 4000 HV about 85 – 90 HRC) without loss of its
• Dense microstructure resistance and its abrasive resistance increases.
• As coating penetrates to main material, it adheres to perfectly
material and it is inseparable as result of being exposed to
thermal expansion or trauma.
• As thermal transmittance of coating is on low level, it can
move up to high speed (approximately 30 % speed and
penetration are obtained.). For this reason, work item surface
becomes smooth.
• Coefficient of friction on cutting edge decreases; lubricity
level increases and edge accumulations don’t exist in the
course of cutting.
• As coating thickness is between 2–15 μm, tolerances of
covered items are unchanged. Tools can be used without
necessity of an additional operation.
• As its color is different from tools, tools wearing can be
Fig. 3: Thermal Spray Applications easily definable.

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ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print) IJRMET Vol. 3, Issue 2, May - Oct 2013

Table 1: Characteristic of Coating Methods Singh et al (2003) investigated the NiCrAlY, Ni-20Cr, Ni3Al and
Thermal satellite-6 coatings on Fe-based super alloy at temperature 900
Characteristic CVD PVD ºC in the molten environment under cyclic conditions [5]. After
Spray
Low to Moderate to performing XRD, SEM/EDAX and EPMA, they found that all
Equipment Cost Moderate these coating showed better resistance to hot corrosion as compared
Moderate High
Low to Low to Moderate to to that of uncoated super alloy and NiCrAlY was found to be most
Operating Cost protective followed by Ni-20Cr coating. The Ni3Al coating was
Moderate Moderate High
Substrate Low to Moderate to also effective in decreasing the weight gain to about one third
Low as compared to uncoated super alloy. They further found that
Temperature Moderate High
satellite coating was least effective but still decreases the weight
Thick
50um-cm gain to about 60% that of uncoated super alloy. The formation of
Coating Thin –Thick Very Thin to oxides and spinels of Ni, Al, Cr or Co may be contributing to the
High
Thickness 0.1-mm Moderate development of hot corrosion resistance.
Coating
Rates Gulene & Kahraman (2002) examined that the abrasive wear rate
Moderate
can often be reduced by the application of hard materials [6]. The
Good Mechanical transition from low wear to high wear with increasing hardness
Very Good of the abrasive is very instructive and abrasive wear resistance of
Adherence Mechanical Bond
Chemical Bond flame sprayed coatings observed to be dependent on the chemical
Bond Very Good
Chemical Bond composition and characteristics of coating materials and coating
condition.
IV. Some Studies Related to Surface Coatings Gitanjali et al (2000) reported that by controlling the various
Current research on surface coating focuses on using various process parameters (air /fuel ratio, temperature, pressure, etc.)
coating methods, parameters, different base materials and materials of boiler and gas turbines were also useful to some extent in
to be coated. combating oil ash corrosion [7]. The low excess of combustion
Lozano D.E., Mercado-Solis R.D. (2009) evaluated wear air can control hot temperature of boilers to some extent. As a
performance of the new hypereutectic Al-Si-Cu alloy using Pin- matter of fact excess of oxygen promotes formation of SO3 and
on-disc tribometer [1]. Modern engine blocks use grey iron liners V2O5 (melting point 675ºC) instead of lower oxides V2O3-V2O4
from the engine bore; however a new hypereutectic Al alloy was (melting point 2000ºC). The industrial practice generally does not
developed to eliminate grey iron liners from engine block. Wear allow operating with low excess of combustion air, consequently
evaluation was carried out at different loading conditions, various the use of additives turns out to be the only effective means to
sliding speeds and various sliding distances under lubricated and prevent corrosion at elevated temperatures.
un-lubricated conditions. Wilson S., Alps A.T. (1998) performed dry sliding wear experiments
Bobzin K., Lugscheider E. (2007) examined magnetron sputtered using TiN coatings on AISI M2 high-speed steel substrate [8]. Wear
three (Cr 1-x Alx) N coatings on their tribological characteristics rates, coefficients of friction, and temperatures of were measured
with different aluminum contents (x = 0; 0.23; 1) .The tests were as a function of load. Three wear regimes were identified; transfer
performed on BoD tribometer. The ceramics Al2O3 and Si3N4 and build up of oxidized pin debris on the coating (20N), increased
were used as counterpart materials [2]. The counterpart wear for polishing damage and brittle spallation failure of the TiN (50-
Al2O3 was less than for Si3N4. On the contrary the highest wear 100N), a sharp transition to plastic deformation microploughing of
rates of coated samples were measured for Al2O3. With regard to TiN (>100N) which coincided with critical steady state temperature
coatings, Cr 0.77 Al 0.23 N showed the lowest wear rates in all of 160 degrees. Softening of TiN above this temperature leads to
cases, though the friction coefficient of Cr 0.77 Al 0.23 N against rapid wear and exposure of substrate material.
Si3N4 was the highest.
Shaffer S.J., Rogers M. J. (2007) assessed the tribological V. Conclusion
performance of a variety of coatings under un-lubricated sliding Surface coating improves the life of the worn out component
conditions [3]. Coatings types investigated include: TiCN, PTFE and reduces the cost of replacement. It reduces downtime by
filled resin-bonded coatings, electro less nickel- cobalt alloy extending the service life and hence few shutdowns are required
coatings, ferritic nitro-carburizing treatment etc. Substrate included to replace them. The purpose of surface technology is to produce
medium carbon steel, D2 tool steel and 6061-T6 aluminum. The functionally effective surfaces. A wide range of coatings can
tests were run using a cylinder-on-flat geometry with self-mated improve the corrosion, erosion and wear resistance of materials.
coatings in both reciprocating and unidirectional conditions. These The various commercially viable coating techniques are thermal
tests ranked the tribological performance of the coatings using both spraying, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and Physical Vapor
coefficient of friction and wear coefficient. The best performing Deposition (PVD) methods.
samples were tested up to total sliding distance of 3.6 km.
Sidhu et al (2003) studied and concluded that the thermal VI. Acknowledgement
sprayed Ni3Al coatings on boiler tube steels was very effective The authors would like to thank the referees of AMMT-2013
in decreasing corrosion rate in air and molten salt at 900ºC in case for their valuable suggestions and comments for modifying the
of ASTM-SA210 grade A1 steel and ASTM-SA-213-T11 type of contents of this paper.
steel whereas coating was least effective for ASTM-SA-213-T22
steel [4]. They further proposed that uncoated ASTM-SA-213-T22 References
steel showed very poor resistance to hot corrosion in molten salt [1] Bhushan, B., Gupta, B. K.,“Handbook of Tribology: Material
environment with spalling of oxide scale. Coating and Surface Treatments”, McGraw-Hill, New York,
1991.

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[2] Archard, J. F.,“Wear Theory and Mechanisms”, Wear Contro

Handbook, ed. M. B. Peterson and W. O. Winer, pp. 35-80, Vineet Shibe received his B.E. degree
ASME, New York, 1980. in Mechanical Engg. from S.L.I.E.T.,
[3] Singh, H., Grewal, M., Sekhon, H., Rao, R.,“Sliding Wear Longowal, India in 2000, the M.E.
Performance of High-Velocity-Oxy-Fuel Spray Al2O3/TiO2 degree in CAD/CAM & Robotics
and Cr2O3 Coatings”, Vol. 222, 2008, pp. 601-610. from Thapar University, Patiala,
[4] Stokes, J.,“Theory and Application of the High Velocity India in 2004 and is a Ph.D. Research
Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) Thermal Spray Process”, Dublin City Scholar, Discipline of Mechanical
University, 2008. Engg., Punjab Technical University,
[5] Halling, J., “Introduction: Recent Development in Surface Jalandhar, India. He was a lecturer in
Coating and Modification Processes”, MEP, London, the Department of Mechanical Engg.,
1985. RIMT-Institute of Engg. & Technology,
[6] Arulmani R., Pandey, S.,“Surfacing Applications: A Review”, Mandigobindgarh in 2004 & 2005. He
National Workshop on Welding Technology, April 25-26, is an Assistant Professor, since August
S.L.I.E.T., Longowal, pp. 233-238, 2003. 2005, B.H.S.B.I.E.T. (Estb. by Govt. of Punjab), Lehragaga, Distt.
[7] Lozano D.E., Mercado-Solis R.D.,“Tribological Behaviour Sangrur, India. His research interests include Computer Aided
of Cast Hypereutectic Al-Si-Cu alloy Subjected to Sliding Designing, Computer Aided Manufacturing, Robotics and Surface
Wear”, Journal of Wear, Vol. 26, 2009, pp. 545-549. Engineering. At present, he is engaged in studying the surface
[8] Bobzin K., Lugscheider E.,“Wear Behaviour of Cr 1-x Al modification techniques such as hardfacing & surface coatings
x N PVD Coatings in Dry Running Conditions”, Journal of for combating wear on boiler components in Coal fired power
Wear, Vol. 263, 2007, pp. 1274-1280. plants.
[9] Shaffer S.J., Rogers M. J.,“Tribological Performance of
various coatings in Unlubricated Sliding for Use in Small
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Technology, Vol. 166, No. 1-3, 2003, pp. 89-100.
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[12] Gulene, Kahraman,“Wear Behavior of Bulldozer Rollers
Welded Using a Submerged Arc Welding Process”, Journal
of Materials and Design, Vol. 24, 2003, pp. 537-542.
[13] Gitanjali, Parkash S.,“Review on Effect of Additives on
Hot Corrosion”, NACE International, Vol. 1, 2000, pp. 174-
182.
[14] Wilson S., Alps A.T.,“TiN Coating Wear Mechanisms in
Dry Sliding Contact Against High Speed Steel”, Journal of
Surface & Coatings Technology, Vol. 108-109, 1998, pp.
369-376.

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