ABSTRACT:
Carbon-Alumina films were deposited on the surface of iron substrate at room temperature using impulse plasma deposition (IPD) method. The plasma beam was generated from a coaxial plasma gun. The pulsed plasma mainly consists of two kinds of ions: working gas ions and inner electrode ions. Acetylene gas (C2H2) was used as a source of carbon atoms. While the inner electrode was the source of Aluminum present in the deposited Aluminum phase. Coatings were produced on iron substrate by a number of plasma pulses (50-200) from 15.42 μ F capacitor bank at 13.5 kV discharging voltage. The plasma coaxial gun parameters were determined. The microstructure of the deposited Carbon-Alumina films were observed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) while the surface micro hardness was measured using Vickers micro-hardness testing machine. The deposited film thickness was measured using electronic coating thickness tester. The surface micro-hardness increased by 65% at 200 plasma pulses from its value for untreated iron substrate. The film thickness increases with the number of plasma pulses with an average deposition rate of 30nm/pulse.