SBIR-STTR Award

Electrodeposited chromium films have played a key role in the advancement of industrial technology over the past century. Unfortunately, such coatings have a critical problem, namely, the electroplating solution involves hexavalent Cr, which is a severe occupational and environmental hazard. We have produced a proprietary refractory amorphous metallic film that has a nanoindentation hardness approximately 10 times harder than electroplated Cr, has withstood temperatures of 500oC for 18 hours without devitrification, and is potentially at least as good, if not better, in corrosion resistance. The metallic glass structure and stability of the alloy has been verified by high-resolution synchrotron radiation scattering methods. There are several goals that are envisaged in Phase I of this proposal: 1) We need to further develop the proprietary alloy to enable us to make prototype coatings on parts processed with an industrial scale PVD chamber. 2) We will need to investigate those parameters that must be controlled to ensure adhesion to a wide variety of technical surfaces including metals, semiconductors, ceramics, and plastics. 3) The proprietary alloy is potentially the precursor of an entire class of multi-component amorphous metallic glass coatings that can be processed by low cost industrial PVD technology.

Keywords:
Chromate Replacement, Refractory Amorphous Metals, Metallic Glass Coatings, Thin Films, Wear Resistance, Corrosion Resistance, Thermally Stable, Pvd

Our Phase I studies have produced a number of amorphous metallic films with true glass microstructures that are entirely free of residual nanocrystalline phases, which lead to premature devitrification. The proprietary MetaGlass™ -101 Ni-based alloy received the most attention, because analytical considerations, verified by experimental observations, proved that these films met, or exceeded, the properties of hexavalent hard chrome electroplatings. At the same time this alloy system was capable of being grown without any environmentally deleterious effects via standard Physical Vapor Deposition techniques with appropriate proprietary processing algorithms. This alloy series was superior to hard chrome in wear resistance, hardness, modulus, thermal stability and corrosion resistance. Phase I observations indicated that MetaGlass™ -101 alloy would bond to the normal Cu/Ni electroplated leveling films that are used for ABS plastic parts. This film also readily adhered to stainless steel, H-13 steel, brass, and silicon substrates under laboratory PVD conditions, which gives us reasonable assurance that the MetaGlass™ - 101 alloy will adhere to many technically useful components. The main technical objective of our Phase II program is to enlarge our laboratory results to produce production scale parts throughput focusing on coatings that use our most promising proprietary MetaGlass™ - 101 alloy.

Keywords:
Chromate Replacement, Refractory Amorphous Metals, Thin Films, Wear Resistance, Corrosion Resistance