Method for coating stainless steel press plates and coated press plates produced thereby
A method for coating stainless steel press plates includes preparing the stainless steel press plate for coating and coating the stainless steel press plate with a diboride doped with 1%-5% by weight aluminum to produce a diboride-aluminum coating. The step of coating includes applying the diboride-aluminum coating to a stainless steel press plate using a magnetron sputter coating system.
1. A method for coating a substrate, comprising:
preparing a substrate for coating;
coating the substrate with a diboride doped with 1%-5% by weight aluminum to produce a diboride-aluminum coating, wherein the step of coating consists of applying the diboride using a first applicator of a magnetron sputter coating system and simultaneously doping the diboride with 1%-5% by weight aluminum by applying aluminum using a second applicator consisting of aluminum of the magnetron sputter coating system producing the diboride-aluminum coating consisting of the diboride and the aluminum upon the substrate.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the diboride-aluminum coating has a Vickers hardness of at least 35 GPa.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the diboride-aluminum coating has a Vickers hardness of 46 GPa.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the diboride-aluminum coating has a thickness of about 3 microns.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of coating includes doping the diboride with 2% by weight aluminum.
6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the step of coating includes applying the diboride-aluminum coating at a substrate bias of 60-90 V and at temperature of 200° C.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the diboride-aluminum coating has a minimum bond strength of 1.6 kilogram force.
8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the diboride-aluminum coating has a minimum bond strength of 1.8 kilogram force.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of coating includes applying multiple layers of the diboride-aluminum coating.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the diboride-aluminum coating is applied in a two-stage process composed of a gradient based diboride-aluminum coating layer and a top titanium diboride-aluminum coating layer.
11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the gradient based diboride-Al coating layer is 600 nm in thickness.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the top diboride-aluminum coating layer is 1,240 nm in thickness.