AN INVESTIGATION OF SOL GEL COATED ZIRCONIA THIN FILMS ON ANODISED TITANIUM SUBSTRATE BY SECONDARY ION MASS SPECTROMETRY AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Zirconia sol-gel-derived ceramic coatings have a variety of uses, due to their ease of production and ability to coat complex shapes. The sol-gel’s nanocrystalline grain structure results in improved mechanical properties of the zirconia coating, which further aids their use in a variety of applications from thermal barrier coating to improved tribological properties on titanium substrates. Stabilised zirconia thin films were spin coated on anodised titanium substrates. The titanium was anodised in a dilute H3PO4/H2SO4 solution before spin coating with the zirconia sol gel. These films were then studied using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), to depth profile the elemental species through to the titanium substrate. In conjunction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray microanalysis were used to examine the craters formed by SIMS to gain an understanding of the diffusion gradient existing with the anodised titanium substrate and zirconia thin film