Combined Surface Treatment of Electron Beam Alloying and PVD Hard Coating for Al Alloys

Due to their typically high hardness, excellent resistance against wear, and their low coefficient of friction, Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) hard coatings are used on steels for a wide range of tools and components. Currently, however, the potential for wear protection of Al alloy components cannot be exploited. The thin PVD layers tend to collapse and disintegrate due to plastic deformation of the soft base material. Present research is focused on electron beam (EB) surface alloying, using Co-based additives to increase the surface hardness of the Al base material, producing an improved supporting effect for PVD coatings. The influence of different beam deflection techniques and EB parameters on the microstructure and hardness of alloyed layers was investigated. The properties of the duplex composite layers produced are strongly dependent on the thermal stability of the EB alloyed layers (type and amount of intermetallic compounds, coarsening effects) which are affected by the temperature-time cycle of the PVD process. This will be discussed by means of SEM and EDX investigations in correlation with XRD analysis. Measurements using scratch test with increasing load result in critical load values for the combined treatment that are 3 to 5 times higher when compared to only PVD-coated base material.