Mechanical behavior of YSZ coatings co-deposited with Al and Ag on AISI 316L via RF sputtering
Introduction
Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has been widely studied and used due to its chemical and physical properties, which include high chemical inertness and thermal stability, as well as its hardness. These properties are useful in applications such as electrolytes in solid oxide fuel cells, chemical sensors, and coatings for thermal barriers, as well as for creating optical devices like switchable mirrors and optical filters. Improving the mechanical properties of zirconia-based thin coatings is crucial to improving the performance and stability of the zirconia-based thin coatings [1]. The methods used to prepare YSZ coatings include physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [[2], [3], [4]]. In order to improve the mechanical properties of YSZ coatings, nanocomposites of YSZ were deposited with other ceramics. For example, Khanali [5] grew YSZ/Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings by means of electrophoretic deposition, modified mechanical properties, and obtained nanohardness of 4.2 GPa. Another study of zirconium-stabilized with Yttria (YSZ) and doped with aluminum showed the formation of oxides such as Al2O3, oxide which increases the corrosion resistance of the coatings [3,6]. Other studies have demonstrated that the addition of Al to ZrO2 thin coatings increases its resistance to cracking [7]; that result is also obtained through the growth of a multilayer, since the coatings reached thermal insulation at high temperatures [8,9].
On the other hand, since silver is a soft metallic element, it has been used to produce self-lubricating coatings, such as YSZ + Ag coatings deposited by means of the thermal spraying technique, in which silver fills pores and cracks, thereby reducing the coefficient of friction of the YSZ by up to a factor of two [10]. In addition, biomedical systems also take advantage of the antiseptic properties of silver [11]. Chemical analyses show that Ag + ions are reduced and this activity together with the inhibitory properties of silver make it a material resistant to bacteria, in electrolytic solutions. Silver in ceramic matrices can produce a nanocomposite, in which the silver matrix in the form of nanoparticles is embedded in a ceramic matrix that provides an excellent antibacterial capacity. In 2013 Shih-Fu Ou et al. published on the antibacterial activity of bio ceramic based on Yttria-stabilized Zirconia sintered with silver; they demonstrated that the released silver ions penetrate the cell walls of bacterial agents such as S. Aureus and E-Coli [12].
Moreover, although there is some literature on the use of aluminum and silver on ceramic matrices, there are no studies that address the mechanical properties and resistance to corrosion of Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings with Ag or Al addictions grown with an RF sputtering technique [[13], [14], [15], [16], [17]]. This research is focused on the influence of both aluminum and silver on the mechanical and tribological behavior of YSZ coatings. The coatings were produced on 316L steel through RF sputtering. The addition of Al and Ag is expected to improve the mechanical properties and wear performance of the coatings. The microstructure, composition, and morphology are also analyzed, and the results are compared with YSZ coatings.
Section snippets
Materials and procedure
The coatings were deposited by using an Alcatel HS2000 RF sputtering equipment reactive which has a radio frequency generator (13.56 MHz) and has been described in a previous paper [3].The power for the targets was established at 200 W for YSZ targets. The base pressure was 4 × 10−5 Pa, and the coatings were deposited at room temperature. The working pressure remained constant at 0.4 Pa, whereas a mass-flow controller regulated the argon flow of 20 sccm holding a ration Ar/02 of 10:1. The
Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results
Fig. 2 shows the high-resolution spectra of O1s, Zr3d, Al2p, Y3d, and Ag3d performed on the sample identified as 3Al+3 Ag. In the high-resolution spectrum of oxygen (O1s) (see Fig. 2a), it was fitted with three (3) peaks: the first centered at 529.70 eV, corresponding to the binding energy of oxygen 1s bound to Y2O3 [20]; the second located at 530.68 eV binding energy, corresponding to the O 1s of ZrO2 [21]; and the last centered at 531.85 eV, corresponding to the binding energy of the O 1s of
Conclusions
Through the reactive phase RF sputtering technique, YSZ coatings doped with both Al and Ag were obtained. The coatings that were doped with aluminum showed the formation of Al2O3, and the coatings doped with silver had metallic silver on the surface of coatings.
The microhardness values obtained in this study demonstrate that the incorporation of Al in the matrix of YSZ coatings increases the degree of hardness, while silver-doped coatings decrease the degree of microhardness. These effects are
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the International Center for Physics (CIF) for supplying the RF sputtering equipment, and the work team of the Plasnamat group of Instituto de Investigaciones de Materiales – III UNAM for the XPS and SEM results.
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