Technical and Economic Considerations in the Selection of Coatings

摘要

Coatings and surface modifications offer many opportunities from enabling new products and processes to improving existing products and solving problems of wear, corrosion, etc. However, the selection of the best coating or surface modification for a given application is not a simple task. There are a plethora of coating processes (PVD, CVD, thermal spray, electrodeposition, etc.) and almost enumerable coating compositions. This paper will address some of the technical and economic issues involved in the selection of an optimum coating for a given application. The technical issues include processing issues as well as the criteria to be satisfied with regard to the intended purpose of the coating in service. The economic considerations should be based on both life cycle costs and improved component performance benefits of a coating.