Preparation of Thin Metal Layers on Polymers

Abstract

Continuous gold layers of increasing thickness were prepared by the vacuum deposition method on pristine and plasma modified sheets of PE, PET and PTFE. Various surface profiles were obtained. The surface morphology was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The continuity of the metal layer on the polymer surface was validated by measuring its electrical resistance. Changes in the wettability of the plasma treated polymers were evaluated by measuring the aging curves. These were obtained as the dependence of contact angle on ageing time.

On the Importance of Secondary Component Properties for Cold Spray Metallization of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers

“…As a result, different technologies for polymer metallization have been studied. Vacuum deposition techniques, such as physical vapor deposition (PVD) (Ref 5 ) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) (Ref 6 ) have provided potential pathways to metallization of polymers but they are not suitable to fabricate thick metal coatings (over 100 µm) (Ref 7 ). Other techniques have been considered such as layup molding (Ref 8 ), wire-arc spray (Ref 9 - 12 ), flame spray (Ref 13 ), plasma spray (Ref 14 ) or air plasma spray (Ref 15 , 16 ), but cold spray has appeared as one of the most viable approaches as it uses relatively low temperatures (several hundred degrees versus several thousand degrees for other thermal spray techniques), thus limiting the risk of oxidation of the metallic powder and heat damage to the substrate (Ref 17 ).…”

Metallisation of polymers and polymer matrix composites by cold spray: state of the art and research perspectives

“…This has been the subject of extensive investigations [8,9]; however, few of them considered CS as a coating technique. Polymer metallisation has been incorporated in several applications ranging from aesthetics, electronic system development, and polymer parts protection using conventional metallisation techniques such as physical vapour deposition (PVD) [10,11] and chemical vapour deposition (CVD) [12]. The major drawbacks associated with these techniques (use of vacuum) are the restriction on workpiece size, the coating thickness (not higher than 10 μm) along with a high processing cost [5].…”

Influence of Bond Coat on Thermal Shock Resistance and Thermal Ablation Resistance for Polymer Matrix Composites

“…The previous research results indicate that the deposit of different functional protective coatings on the surface of the substrate can effectively improve the high temperature oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance and service temperature of the substrate (Darolia, 2013). Various deposition methods have been explored, such as thermal spraying (Voyer et al, 2008;Lopera-Valle and Mcdonald, 2016), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) (Mathur and Ruegamer, 2011;Duguet et al, 2013), physical vapor deposition (PVD) (Siegel and Kotal, 2007;Tamaddon Masoule et al, 2016), electroplating (Zhou et al, 2010), cold spraying (CS) (Zhou et al, 2011), and Sol-Gel process (Huang et al, 2013). Metal and ceramic coatings have been widely used to enhance the electrical, mechanical and thermal properties of PMCs.…”