Electron beam treatments of electrophoretic ceramic coatings

In this work a method to densify ceramic coating obtained by electrophoresis and to improve its adhesion to the substrate is proposed. It consists in irradiating the coating surface by electron beam (EB). Alumina and alumina-zirconia coatings were deposited on stainless steel substrates and treated by low power EB. SEM, XRD and TEM characterizations demonstrated that the sintering occurred. Moreover, it is shown that on alumina-zirconia coating the EB irradiation produced a composite material consisting principally of tetragonal zirconia particles immersed in an amorphous alumina matrix. The adhesion stress of EB treated coating was estimated by stud pull test and it was found to be comparable to that of plasma-sprayed coatings.