Development of Thermal Spray Processes for Depositing Coatings on Thermoplastics

Thermoplastics combine high freedom of design with economical mass production. Metallic coatings on thermoplastics enable power and signal transmission, shield sensitive parts inside of housings and can reduce the temperature in critical areas by functioning as a heat sink. The most used technical thermoplastics are polyamides (PA), while the described use cases are often realized using Cu. Consequently, several studies tried to apply copper coatings on PA substrates via thermal spraying; so far, this combination is only feasible using an interlayer. In this study, a new approach to metallize thermoplastics via thermal spraying based on validated state-of-the-art predictions of the thermoplastics’ material response at relevant temperatures and strain rates is presented. Using these predictions, high velocity wire-arc spraying was selected as coating process. Furthermore, the process parameters were adapted to realize a continuous coating while also roughening the substrate during coating deposition. The resulting Cu coating on PA6 had a sufficiently high coating adhesion for post-treatment by grinding. The adhesion is achieved by in situ roughening during the coating application. The results indicate that different process parameters for initial layer deposition and further coating buildup are required due to the low thermal stability of PA6.