Electrophoretic deposition and sintering of zirconia layers on microstructured steel substrates

A method is developed to electrophoretically deposit homogeneous zirconia layers with a thickness of about 5 μm on microstructured steel substrates. To realize layers in this range of thickness, the use of fine to submicron zirconia powder is necessary. To determine the electrokinetic behavior of the powder particles during electrophoresis, their electrophoretic mobility (EM) is measured. Special attention is drawn to the dependence of the mobility on particle size, where Henry theory can be applied. After depositing the layer on the substrate, it is sintered at 1000 °C and investigated by optical microscopy and SEM.