Electron-beam Deposition of Ceramic Coatings

Abstract

This paper presents a novel technique for producing alumina ceramic coatings based on the evaporation of an aluminum oxide target by an electron beam in the middle vacuum range (5-30 Pa). The evaporation of ceramics by the electron beam enables to attain a coating deposition rate of up to 0.3 µm/min, and thus consider this as a practical alternative to existing methods. A special attention is devoted to the study of the surfaces of obtained coatings. The X-ray fluorescence analysis of the deposited coating showed the presence in the coating of all the elements that contained in the ceramic target being evaporated. The coating has a substantially homogeneous surface without any prominent pores.