Development of Zinc and Low Carbon Steel Coatings on ABS Plastic by Electric ARC Spraying

Abstract

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is a highly sought-after engineering plastic for industrial applications, particularly in modern aircrafts. It offers better balance of impact strength, tensile strength, thermal resistance, dimensional stability, processing ability and affordability, the aircraft interior parts are made up of ABS plastic. However, ABS plastic is not a good choice for heavy-duty industrial applications that require corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance and durability. Several studies have been published on surface metallization of ABS plastic using conventional electroplating and electroless methods, but there is little information is available on the use of thermal spray technique. This opens up a huge opportunity for research in this area to be conducted using most commonly used materials like zinc and low carbon steel. In the light of the above, the current work employs an electric arc spray technique to coat zinc and low carbon steel on ABS plastic. Prior to coating the alumina grit blasting was carried on tensile and bending samples which were prepared as per ASTM D638 and ASTM D790 standards respectively. Comparative studies showed that the zinc coated ABS samples showed better tensile strength, flexural strength and flexural modulus than that of low carbon steel coated ABS specimen. Visual examination showed good surface finish with no surface damage for zinc coated ABS component.</div></div>