| HVOF Sprayed Multi-Scale Polymer/Ceramic Composite Coatings | ||
| Mr. Stephen Niezgoda1, Dr. Richard Knight1, Mr. Varun Gupta1, Dr. Thomas E. Twardowski2 and Prof. Richard A. Cairncross3, 1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 2Goodwin College of Professional Studies, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 3Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, CAT Building, Room 277, Philadelphia, PA 19104
The high velocity oxy-Fuel (HVOF) combustion spray process has been shown to be a viable means for spraying polymers and polymer-matrix composite coatings. Spraying of polymer-ceramic composite powders produced by ball-milling nominal 60 µm Nylon-11 with different size scale (7 nm to 50 µm) ceramic reinforcements has been shown to be an effective method of producing semi-crystalline micron and nano-scale reinforced composite coatings. Polymer matrix composite coatings with nominal 10 vol. % of different size scale silica and alumina reinforcements have been produced. The levels of filler loading in the feedstock powders and HVOF sprayed coatings were compared using ashing and confirmed by thermo-gravimetric analysis. Particle size analysis, microstructural characterization, and elemental composition of the feedstock powders and as-sprayed coatings were determined by optical and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The influence of dispersion, distribution and size scales of the reinforcing phase has been studied and correlated to coating microstructure and process parameter variations. The crystallinity of the Nylon-11 matrix and the scratch resistance of the coatings were also evaluated as a function of reinforcement size and compared with those of pure HVOF sprayed Nylon-11 coatings. | ||