Catholic electrophoretic deposition of nano-B4C coating

• B4C coating was firstly fabricated by EPD method.
• The obtained B4C coating is of good film characteristics.
• Result significant for cermet, armor and wear-resistant components application.

Boron carbide (B4C) coating having potential in application of cermet, armor materials, and wear-resistant components have attracted considerable attention due to its excellent properties, such as high melting point, high hardness, high neutron absorption, low density, and good chemical stability. In this study, the nano-B4C coatings have been successfully fabricated by the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method in a solvent of isopropyl alcohol containing Polyethyleneimine (PEI). The electrophoretic B4C coating was sintered at 1000 °C for 6 h under a constant flow of argon. The electrophoretic coating was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, and the result indicates that B4C coating is of good film characteristics after sintering. Furthermore, the influence of addition amount of PEI on the EPD kinetics of the nano-B4C was investigated in detail. The results show that the optimal addition of PEI would vary with the suspension concentration of nano-B4C. Generally speaking, the needed addition amount of PEI for sufficiently modifying the surface charging of nano-B4C would increase with the amount of nanoparticles in suspension. This work demonstrates that EPD method is a facile and effective approach in the preparation of B4C coatings for potential applications.