No description available.

No description available.

The impact of particle size, size distribution, and particle shape on the rheology of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) based coatings was studied. Evaluating the interactions between different particle sizes and shapes leads to a better understanding of the packing fraction of PCC. HIgh packing fraction is desirable because of the positive impact on the fluidity of suspensions. Suspension with higher levels of fluidity can potentially load larger amounts of solids while keeping low viscosities. High solids suspensions are key factors to improve the efficiency of coating processes. To address this issue, PCC of different sizes and shapes where mixed in different ratiosto find mixtures with higher packing fractions that could result in coatings with lower viscosities. When coatings containing 90% of large particles and 10% by weight of small particles of different shape, viscosity decreases by 50% for one combination. The effect is caused by the higher packing fraction achieved. Future research is also described here.

In order to improve the efficiency of various optical surfaces, optical coatings are used. Optical coating is a process of depositing a thin layer of a material on an optical component such as mirror or lens to change reflectance or transmittance. There are two main types of coatings namely / reflective and antireflective (AR) Coatings. Reflective and antireflective coatings have long been developed for a variety of applications in all aspects of use / for optical and electro-optical systems in telecommunications, medicine, military products and space applications. In this thesis, the main properties of reflective and antireflective coatings, the thin film deposition techniques, suitable coating materials for space applications, space environment effects on coating materials and coating design examples which are developed using MATLAB for space applications will be discussed.

When loss of material due to sliding of two solids is promoted/prevented, in the presence of chemically reacting liquid or gas, tribochemical wear is said to occur. Tribochemical wear, in which corrosive media promotes material loss, is a serious concern in a variety of applications like machining, bio-implants, gas turbine engines etc. The most pervasive corrosive media encountered in applications are water and air. Air also contains water vapour along with oxygen, both of which adsorb and react with most materials, thus influencing their wear behaviour. The need for higher operating temperatures and compression ratios in gas turbine engines require development of high temperature wear resistant coatings to protect their soft metallic components. Ti based nitride coatings with Ti, Al, Si, Cr, Ta, Nb, V are known for wear resistance because of their high hardness which is second only to diamond and c-BN. High O affinity of these elements, induce the coatings to form passive oxide scale up to reasonably high temperatures and offer superior corrosion and oxidation resistance. However, sliding can remove the passivating layer, exposing the native surface to the environment which can lead to enhanced tribochemical wear. Oxidation resistance under static conditions does not guarantee low tribochemical wear; however, the tribochemical reactions causing the corrosion are of interest. Another concern is that sliding in unison with high temperatures can activate processes like enhanced diffusion, phase transformations in nitride coatings as well as in the substrate. Hence one of our objectives is to perform wear tests at high temperatures to understand the dominant mechanisms that affect wear in nitride coatings. Wear tests in the range of room temperature up to the oxidation limit of these coatings are designed.In this study TiN and high aluminium containing TiAlN coatings are chosen to study understand the wear behaviour as function of temperature up to 800°C [1]–[3]. In order to study wear of coatings, it is necessary to identify the best possible materials and methods. Though under the targeted application the coatings have to perform under fretting tests, pin on disk configuration is used which simplifies the analysis and gives deeper insight into the wear mechanism. Coated ball is used as the pin which is stationary unlike many earlier studies where the coating is applied on the rotating disk. The purpose of keeping the pin stationary is to minimize the counter-face wear and, instead, accelerate wear in these hard coatings. This method also enables easy and accurate measurement of wear depth and volume by using an optical microscope, while the conventional coated disk method requires profilometry and statistically sound measurements. To enable coating performance, substrate should not undergo much loss of strength before 800°C and hence aerospace grade IN718 alloy is chosen as the substrate which softens slowly beyond 650°C. Alumina is used as counter-face, since it has high hardness, excellent mechanical, chemical and thermal stability. In the current study, TiAlN coating is tested for wear in the range of room temperature to 800°C. Figure 1 represents the data obtained from the wear experiments. It is found that the wear is higher with large scatter at room temperature while it remains constant from 200- 750°C. Two important observations are made, firstly that the TiAlN is susceptible to some kind of a corrosive wear at room temperature which depended on the timing of the tests and secondly that the coating shows a surprisingly constant wear behaviour over the temperature range of 200-750°C. The scatter at room temperature is found to be linked with seasonal fluctuation of humidity which is verified by performing tests under controlled humidity conditions. Water vapour and oxygen are potential reacting gases present in air. Oxidation and oxidative wear is known to occur in many materials as temperatures increase which seem to be linked to thermal activation of oxidation. However lower wear at 200°C and above compared to room temperatures suggests something else to be happening .It is evident then that between room temperature and 200°C lies a transition of some kind in the tribochemical reaction which is responsible for the observed wear behaviour of TiAlN. A detailed study to understand this transition is then undertaken for the composition of TiN coatings so that benchmarking and comparison with TiAlN is possible. Also if the wear behaviour of TiN is found similar to TiAlN then it would indicate a general phenomenon which can be extended to Ti based nitrides. Figure 1 Wear rate as a variation of temperature for TiAlN coatings In contrast to low temperature wear behaviour of TiAlN, a constant wear in the range of 200-750°C is surprising because the primary suspect which is oxidation is thermally activated. The oxide scale though expected to be thin at low temperatures, has to increase in thickness with temperature due to increased diffusion and reaction rates. The oxide scale also undergoes a change in morphology and composition which indicate a lower oxidation resistance as temperature increases. A preliminary characterization of the wear scar on the ball shows that the oxide inside the worn region is thinner than the oxide outside at 750°C. The amount of O within the wear scar is similar to levels observed on as deposited surface while the surface outside the wear scar shows oxidation and discolouration. The results suggest that oxidation inside worn region at high temperatures might be slower than the expected parabolic oxidation occurring outside the wear region. It is speculated that a double layer oxide is formed with TiO2 towards the surface and Al2O3 towards the nitride which is responsible for the lower wear at high temperature. This is supported by the fact that larger amount of Ti is found in the wear debris as temperature inceases. Superficial surface cracks appear at higher loads at temperatures as low as 600°C but they affect wear only above 800°C due to substrate softening. This shows that the coatings are still limited by the substrate softening temperature and could be used at higher temperatures. Tribo-reaction in metals, nitrides and carbides can be brought about in the presence of O2 or water vapour. Tribochemical wear of SiN, SiC, TiN, TiAlN, alumina and most other ceramics at room temperature are found to depend on humidity[4]–[6]. But only tribo-oxidation due to O2 is found to operate at high temperatures[7], [8]. Notwithstanding, it is known that SiC and SiN are more resistant to attack from O2 above 800°C than from steam. Hence the role played by water vapour is found to be convoluted. Moreover, relative humidity is the frequently mentioned quantity with regard tribochemical wear at room temperatures. It should be noted that relative humidity is not a measure of chemical activity of water vapour. Rather the water vapour pressure which represents the chemical activity of water, is not given much importance in the earlier studies. In this study, the importance of humidity, water vapour pressure and temperature in influencing wear, is studied by performing controlled wear tests on TiN. To explore the effect of temperature and water vapour pressure, TiN is tested varying temperature range of 28 °C to 90°C and water vapour pressure in the range of 3-35 mm-of-Hg. Wear tests are conducted keeping temperature constant with varying water vapour pressure and vice versa. The results show that, wear increased with humidity/vapour pressure at a fixed temperature but wear dropped drastically with increase in temperature at constant vapour pressure up to a critical temperature beyond which wear remained constant. This is one of the major unexpected findings since temperature is expected to increase wear volume. Also the critical temperature is found to shift to higher temperatures as water vapour pressures increased. It was suspected that capillary condensation was playing a role in the wear which was later verified. The whole wear behaviour is shown to be correlated with the amount of capillary condensed water. The large radius of curvature of the asperities on the polished coating surface and the smooth surface formed on the counter-face due to debris compaction form conditions favourable for capillary condensation. Any two hydrophilic surfaces which come in contact can form capillary condensation to occur at the cusps formed around the contact. However a threshold pore size of about 1nm existed below which condensation did not influence wear. Another observation is that the water vapour did not affect wear significantly in the absence of condensation for TiN coatings. As temperatures increased condensation became unfavourable, but the high vapour pressure present showed no signs of wear enhancement. This is surprising and unexpected compared to earlier reports.[9], [10] On contrary tests in liquid water showed expected behaviour for tribochemical reaction i.e wear increased with temperature. The wear in liquid water is highest when compared studies in air at any given temperature. The X-ray electron emission spectroscopy (XPS) analysis is performed to understand the surface reactions. It appears that O2 forms a barrier oxide which protects the nitride from reacting with water vapour. However when condensation occurs or in water, the oxygen and water collude into forming softer hydroxide layer which is easily removed. Though chemically water and water vapour are same, they affect wear in TiN very differently. Summarising the synopsis, exploration into high temperature wear of TiAlN reveals that it can handle oxidative wear upto 750°C showing constant wear over the temperature range of 200-750°C. Reduction in residual stresses and substrate softening may be responsible for higher wear at higher loads since the cracking is observed at 5N is absent at 3N. The substrate is expected to soften above 650°C but this does not necessarily affect wear until the load is increased or the temperature is sufficiently high. However TiAlN and TiN coatings showed susceptibility to tribo-corrosion in water and high humidity at room temperature. At high humidity, condensation of water leads to increase in wear. The dependence of wear on humidity is found to be because of capillary condensation. The negligible dependence of wear on humidity in the absence of condensation is ascribed to formation of oxide layer due to reaction with O2 and coating. The oxide barrier formed due to atmospheric O2 protects the coating from reacting with the water vapour. The oxide barrier on TiN forms faster indicating O2 reaction to be faster than the reaction with water vapour. In the presence of capillary condensation or water, O2 is depleted from contacting surfaces thus hindering the formation of the barrier oxide, increasing wear. As temperature increases the condensation becomes unfavourable and barrier oxide dominates the wear mechanism upto high temperatures which is dominated by oxidative wear.

In the present investigation, surface coatings employing laser surface alloying (LSA) and plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) processes have been prepared on Mg alloys. The coatings have been investigated for corrosion and wear behaviour. Two important Mg alloys based on Mg–Al system were selected namely, MRI 230D and AM50 as substrates. LSA coatings have been prepared employing Al and Al2O3 as precursors using different laser scan speeds. PEO coatings were prepared in standard silicate and phosphate based electrolytes employing unipolar, pulsed DC. Hybrid coatings using a combination of the two processes were also produced and investigated for corrosion and wear behaviour. Hybrid coatings of LSA followed by PEO (LSA+PEO) were investigated for effectiveness of sealing the cracks in the LSA coatings by subsequent PEO process and consequent improvement in the corrosion resistance. Hybrid coatings of PEO followed by LSA (PEO+LSA) were prepared with an objective of sealing the pores in the PEO coating LSA treatment. In an attempt to produce more compact PEO coatings, electrolyte containing montmorillonite clay additives was employed for the PEO process of AM50 Mg alloy. The coatings were produced employing different current densities and the effect of current density on the microstructure and corrosion behaviour of coating was investigated. Electrochemical corrosion tests of uncoated and coated alloys were carried out in 3.5 wt.% (0.6M)NaCl, neutral pH, solution with an exposed area of 0.5 cm2 for a time duration of 18.5 h. For the PEO coatings with clay additives, corrosion tests were conducted additionally in 0.5 wt.% (0.08 M) NaCl, neutral pH, solution for a time duration of 226.1 h. Wear behaviour of LSA coatings was analyzed by employing a pin on disc tribo–tester conforming to ASTM G–99 standard at ambient conditions with ground EN32 steel disc of hardness Rc 58 as the counterface. Tests were conducted under dry sliding conditions for a sliding distance of 1.0 km at a sliding velocity of 0.837 m/s employing normal loads of 10, 20, 30 and 40 N. Friction and wear behavior of PEO and PEO+LSA coatings were analyzed at ambient conditions by employing a ball−on−flat linearly oscillating tribometer conforming to ASTM G–133 standard. AISI 52100 steel ball of diameter 6 mm was employed as the friction partner. Wear tests were conducted under dry sliding conditions for a total sliding distance of 100 m at normal loads of 2 N and 5 N with oscillating amplitude of 10 mm and mean sliding speed of 5 mm/s. LSA coatings could not improve the corrosion resistance of MRI 230D Mg alloy. This was attributed to the presence of cracks in the LSA coating, which resulted in the accelerated galvanic corrosion of the substrate. LSA coatings improved the wear resistance at all loads. The improved wear resistance was attributed to β (Mg17Al12) phase and Al2O3 particles in the coating which increased the hardness of the LSA layer. No trend in corrosion and wear resistance with laser scan speed was observed for LSA coatings. PEO coatings improved the corrosion resistance of the MRI 230D Mg alloy significantly. The improved corrosion resistance was attributed to the enhanced barrier protection provided by dense barrier layer formed at the substrate/coating interface and to the insoluble phase constituents in the coatings. PEO coating was effective in improving the wear resistance at low loads/contact pressures. At higher loads, the coating underwent micro–fracture as a result of the porosity in the coatings. Hybrid coatings of LSA followed by PEO (LSA+PEO) in silicate based electrolyte improved the corrosion resistance of LSA coatings. However, the corrosion resistance was not improved to the extent of PEO coatings on as–cast alloy as a result of cracks in the primary coatings, which were not fully sealed by the plasma conversion products. No trend in corrosion resistance with laser scan speed was observed for LSA+PEOcoatings. In hybrid coatings of PEO followed by LSA (PEO+LSA), primary PEO coating was completely melted and mixed with applied precursor to form a single composite LSA layer. The corrosion resistance of the hybrid coatings was observed to be lower than that of the as–cast alloy. The presence of solidification cracks reduced the barrier properties and resulted in the accelerated galvanic corrosion of the substrate similar to LSA coatings. Hybrid (PEO+LSA) coatings exhibited improved wear resistance as compared to as–cast alloy at lower loads as a result of increase in the hardness due to β (Mg17Al12) phase and oxide/ceramic particles in the hybrid layer. At higher loads, hybrid coatings exhibited higher wear rate as compared to as–cast alloy and PEO coatings. This was attributed to three–body abrasive wear as a result of dislodged hard oxide/ceramic particles in the wear tracks. No trend in corrosion and wear resistance with laser scan speed was observed for PEO+LSA coatings. PEO coatings on AM50 Mg alloy by employing clay additives in the electrolyte resulted in the reactive uptake of clay particles producing a predominantly amorphous coating at low current density. Clay additives were effective in improving the compactness of the coating at lower current density. At higher current densities, the porosity of the coatings increased. The clay particles got re–constituted producing increasing amount of crystalline phases with increase in current density. Long term impedance measurements showed that clay addition as well as increased current density employed for the PEO process was not effective in improving the corrosion resistance of the coatings. At low current density, even though the coating with clay additives was more compact, it was deficient in MgO and consisted predominantly of an amorphous phase, which underwent fast dissolution in electrolyte thereby resulting in an early loss of barrier properties. At higher current densities, even though the coatings consisted of increased amount of MgO and crystalline phases, which resist dissolution in the electrolyte, the increased porosity and defective barrier layer resulted in easy permeation of the electrolyte into the substrate/coating interface, which resulted in much earlier loss of barrier properties and inferior corrosion resistance.

This thesis concerns the ternary Al-Cr-O system. (Al1-xCrx)2O3 solid solution thin films with 0.6<x<0.7 were deposited on Si(001) substrates at temperatures of 400-500 °C by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering from metallic targets of Al and Cr in a flow controlled Ar / O2 gas mixture. As-deposited and annealed (Al1-xCrx)2O3 thin films were analyzed by x-ray diffraction, elastic recoil detection analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and nanoindentation. (Al1-xCrx)2O3 showed to have face centered cubic structure with lattice parameter of 4.04 Å, which is in contrast to the typical corundum structure reported for these films. The as-deposited films exhibited hardness of ~ 26 GPa and elastic modulus of 220-235 GPa. Phase transformation from cubic to corundum (Al0.32Cr0.68)2O3 starts at 925 °C. Annealing at 1000 °C resulted in complete phase transformation, while no precipitates of alumina and chromia were observed. Studies on kinetics of phase transformation showed a two-step thermally activated process; phase transformation and grain growth with the apparent activation energies 213±162 and 945±27 kJ/mol, respectively.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (DSc (Chemistry and Polymer Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Aqueous polyurethane (PU) dispersions were synthesized for use in paper coatings. These PUs contained a polyester polyol soft segment (content of between 65 to 75%) and a urethane hard segment (content of between 30 to 35%). Triethylamine (TEA) was used as the neutralizing agent. The polyester polyol segment consisted of neopentyl glycol (NPG), adipic acid, 1,4-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid (1,4-CHDCA) and 2-phosphonobutane- 1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid (PBTCA), while the urethane hard segment consisted of toluene diisocyanate (TDI), dimethylolproponic acid (DMPA) and ethylene glycol (EG) as a chain extender for increasing the hard segment content. Waxes and fillers were incorporated into the PU coating mixtures to investigate their effect on the barrier properties of the PU. Two types of fillers were used: nano-fillers and micro-fillers. The nano-fillers used included the Cloisite nano-clays NC15A, NC93A and NC30B, and the micro-fillers used included talc, kaolin clay and barium sulfate. Two different polyester polyols were synthesized: one containing a phosphate and the other containing no phosphate. The polyols were characterized in terms of their acid value, hydroxyl value and molecular mass. The PUs synthesized from the polyol containing no phosphate showed unfavourable barrier properties compared to results achieved with the phosphate-containing PU. The PU dispersions were applied to paperboard, and then dried at a maximum temperature of 130oC for 15 to 60 seconds, depending on the coating volume. The PU-coated paperboard was characterized primarily by determining the moisture vapour transmission rate (MVTR), and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PU films (stand alone, not supported by paper) were prepared by heating the concurrent PU dispersion in Teflon holders over three different temperature stages (60, 90 and 120oC) for about 2 days. The dried films were then characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The PU coatings showed self-assembly properties, which were affected primarily by the ionic content (comprising of DMPA, PBTCA and excess TEA) and emulsion viscosity. These self-assembly properties were analyzed by static contact angle (SCA) and MVTR measurements. It was found that the final coating properties were affected by the self-assembly mechanism of the PU. Generally, the phosphated PU coatings had lower MVTR values than the non-phosphated PU coatings. SEM analysis showed that the phosphated PU coatings had no pinholes, while the non-phosphated PU coatings had pinholes. DMA analysis showed that the phosphated PUs had higher Tg values than the non-phosphated PUs. Further, the inclusion of the phosphate monomer increased the emulsion stability and the compatibility between the hard and soft segments of the PU. Also, the exfoliated PU nanocomposites at 1% filler loading gave much better MVTR results compared to the PU microcomposites. It also rendered the coating to be non-blocking, with minimal change in MVTR.

The reaction between nitrogen-containing organic compounds (pyridines and amines) and alumina was studied through the use of chromatographic titrations and elemental analysis. The aluminum-nitrogen bond was the basis for the preparation of a series of new chromatographic adsorbents. A series of amines and pyridine homologs were bound to alumina and evaluated as chromatographic stationary phases. The surface coverage was determined using elemental analysis. The adsorption properties of the stationary phases were investigated by determining differential enthalpies, entropies, and free energies of adsorption for a selected group of organic moieties. Rate theory was used to examine further the interaction between the molecular probes and the tailored supports. Relative peak broadening was measured both as a function of flow rate and temperature to provide a chromatographic evaluation of molecular probe-adsorbent interaction occurring during the chromatographic process. Results indicated that the single-molecule moieties used as tailoring agents served as excellent deactivating agents but produced no significant changes in the selectivity of the adsorbents. Pellicular beads were synthesized by using 4-vinylpyridine as a linking agent between the alumina substrate and a series of polymers. The polymers used in this study were polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, and polyacrylonitrile. Each type of polymer-coated bead was prepared at different loading levels. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the gross change in the surface and elemental analysis used to determine the polymer loading. The adsorption properties of the polymeric pellicular supports were studied by determining the aforementioned thermodynamic quantities and by rate theory. The relative peak broadening was mentioned as a function of polymer type, loading, flow rate, and temperature. The chromatographic behavior of the selected molecular probes on the pellicular supports was sensitive to polymer type and loading. It was established that alumina can be modified with amines and pyridines and that a molecule possessing a nitrogen atom and a polymerization site can be used as an adhesive interface to chemically link polymeric phases to alumina. Currently, there are no commercially available modified aluminas. It has been demonstrated here that the preparation of such supports is feasible and can lead to chromatographically useful products.