A Review of Thermal Spray Metallization of Polymer-Based Structures

Abstract

A literature review on the thermal spray deposition of metals onto polymer-based structures is presented. The deposition of metals onto polymer-based structures has been developed to enhance the thermal and electrical properties of the resulting metal-polymer material system. First, the description of the thermal spray metallization processes and technologies for polymer-based materials are outlined. Then, polymer surface preparation methods and the deposition of metal bond-coats are explored. Moreover, the thermal spray process parameters that affect the properties of metal deposits on polymers are described, followed by studies on the temperature distribution within the polymer substrate during the thermal spray process. The objective of this review is devoted to testing and potential applications of thermal-sprayed metal coatings deposited onto polymer-based substrates. This review aims to summarize the state-of-the-art contributions to research on the thermal spray metallization of polymer-based materials, which has gained recent attention for potential and novel applications.

Soft Microreactors for the Deposition of Conductive Metallic Traces on Planar, Embossed, and Curved Surfaces

“…Compared to electroplating, which may result in the build‐up of material at the edges and corners of the target substrate, and requires power supplies and conductive substrates, electroless plating has several advantages; it (i) is a simple one‐pot, solution‐based approach that uses a redox reaction to deposit metal directly, (ii) is cost effective, as it does not involve power supplies and other instrumentation, (iii) is applicable to the generation of uniform coatings on complicated shapes, and (iv) is able to coat nonconductive substrates, including, numerous plastics (e.g., polycarbonate, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene), glass, and elastomeric materials . Additionally, electroless deposition has key practical advantages over other popular metallization techniques, such as chemical vapor deposition, thermal spray methods, and physical vapor deposition, including: the ability to (i) deposit inorganic material selectively on the substrates without the need for lithography, and (ii) operate using simple, low‐cost processing equipment. Accordingly, electroless deposition is ubiquitous in electronics, and more generally to the manufacture of, for example, decorative or protective coatings, packaging paper, etc…”

A Novel Electrolytic Plasma Spraying Preparation SiO2/SiC Coating on Carbon Fiber Fabric

“…The thermal spray technique is widely used because of its flexible and convenient operation and it not being restricted by the shape and size of the workpiece. The process of thermal spraying coating is to heat the metal, reduce the molten or semi-molten particles to a powder using a heat source, and then spray them onto the surface of the substrate at a certain speed by the flame itself or compressed air, so that a functional coating is deposited on the surface [22]. Unfortunately, most materials have poor heat resistance so cannot deposit a coating without substrate degradation.…”

Direct metallization by a plasma coating process on thermal conductive polyamide

“…The plastic parts processed by injection moulding with different 3D geometries can partially or completely be metalized using different metal powders with varying thicknesses [2,3,6].…”

“…This is a thermal spray technology using cold active plasma to melt a metal powders such as copper, which can be deposited directly on a surface [3,4]. This can be described as additive metallization technology, which enables new applications also for non-metal materials like plastics.…”