Wear resistant coatings

Major polymer applications silicon wafer carriers, pump, pipes, fittings, filtration, tubing, column packing, marine coatings, wear resistant products, coating for hostile environments, automotive weather seals for doors and windows... 

Nanostructured coatings (wear-resistant or bioacdve coatings) in general improve the corrosion resistance. There exists considerable debate on nanotoxicity. 

In other areas, POD has been used to improve the wear resistance of a mbber latex binder by incorporation of 25% of Oksalon fibers. Heat-resistant laminate films, made by coating a polyester film with POD, have been used as electrical insulators and show good resistance to abrasion and are capable of 126% elongation. In some instances, thin sheets of PODs have been used as mold release agents. For this appHcation a resin is placed between the two sheets of POD, which is then pressed in a mold, and the sheets simply peel off from the object and mold after the resin has cured. POD-based membranes exhibit salt rejection properties and hence find potential as reverse osmosis membranes in the purification of seawater. PODs have also been used in the manufacturing of electrophotographic plates as binders between the toner and plate. These improved binders produce sharper images than were possible before. 

The wide range of soHd lubricants can generally be classified as either inorganic compounds or organic polymers, both commonly used in a bonded coating on a matching substrate, plus chemical conversion coatings and metal films. Since solid-film lubricants often suffer from poor wear resistance and inabihty to self-heal any breaks in the film, search continues for improved compositions. 

Hydrodynamic principles for gas bearings are similar to those involved with Hquid lubricants except that gas compressibility usually is a significant factor (8,69). With gas employed as a lubricant at high speeds, start—stop wear is minimized by selection of wear-resistant materials for the journal and bearing. This may involve hard coatings such as tungsten carbide or chromium oxide flame plate, or soHd lubricants, eg, PTFE and M0S2. 

For wear resistance and low friction, coatings of PTFE or M0S2 generally have been satisfactory. Use of low thermal expansion filler in PTFE helps minimise cracking and loss of adhesion from metal substrates with their lower coefficients of expansion. 

Another important function of metallic coatings is to provide wear resistance. Hard chromium, electroless nickel, composites of nickel and diamond, or diffusion or vapor-phase deposits of sUicon carbide [409-21-2], SiC , SiC tungsten carbide [56780-56-4], WC and boron carbide [12069-32-8], B4C, are examples. Chemical resistance at high temperatures is provided by aUoys of aluminum and platinum [7440-06-4] or other precious metals (10—14). 

K. N. Strafford, P. K. Datta, and G. G. Googan, eds.. Coatings and Suface Treatment for Corrosion and Wear Resistance, Halstead Press, New York,... 

The blue-black Hon oxide formed in this process fills some of the interconnecting porosity and much of the surface. Hence the density is increased, resulting in higher compressive strength. Furthermore, the oxide coating increases hardness (qv) and wear resistance. 

Copolymeis of diallyl succinate and unsatuiated polyesters cured by x rays provide wear-resistant coatings of MMA dental polymers (76). 

Reaction spraying is also being widely explored. In this case new compositions or particle surface reactions providing enhanced coating properties, eg, nitrides for wear resistance, are achieved while the particle is in transit. 

Titanium carbide may also be made by the reaction at high temperature of titanium with carbon titanium tetrachloride with organic compounds such as methane, chloroform, or poly(vinyl chloride) titanium disulfide [12039-13-3] with carbon organotitanates with carbon precursor polymers (31) and titanium tetrachloride with hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Much of this work is directed toward the production of ultrafine (<1 jim) powders. The reaction of titanium tetrachloride with a hydrocarbon-hydrogen mixture at ca 1000°C is used for the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of thin carbide films used in wear-resistant coatings. 

Other coatings, such as TiAlN (96), TiCN, Zr02, and ZrN (97), and CrN (98) were developed for special appHcations. The last was developed for higher speed machining of titanium alloys. Sometimes a coating is developed not for its wear-resistance but for its heat insulation. The case in point is alumina coating of cBN to reduce the heat conductivity at the surface so that the cBN performance can be enhanced (99). 

The activated CVD diamond techniques can be mote attractive in cases where the huge capital investment (several hundred million dollars) requited for the HP—HT technology is not available or where the high level of technical knowledge requited for HP—HT synthesis is not available. In addition, most wear-resistant apphcations requite diamond coatings only of the order of a few micrometers thick. Such coatings can be deposited ditecdy on the finished product without the need for further finishing if CVD techniques are employed. 

Dreyer and co-workers. Development andTool Efe Beharior of Super-Wear Resistant Multilcryer Coatings on Hard Metals, Book No. 278, Metals Society (London), 1982, pp. 112-117. 

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