Materials Letters 63 (2009) 13871389

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Materials Letters
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / m a t l e t

Aluminizing nickel foam by a slurry coating process

H. Omar a,, D.P. Papadopoulos a, S.A. Tsipas b, H. Lefakis c
a b c

Physical Metallurgy Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Macedonia, Greece Dpto.Ciencia e lngenieria de Materiales e lngenieria Quimica Escuela Politecnica Superior Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avda de la Universidad, 30 28911 Leganes, Spain Department of Energy Resource Engineering and Management, University of Western Macedonia, 50100 Kozani, Greece

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
A simple, one-step slurry coating technique was used to aluminize open cell nickel metal foam at low temperature and short hold-down time. Three slurries of different composition, heat-treated at 650 C for 2 h, were used to investigate the possibility of developing an aluminide coating on a commercially produced Ni foam. In all cases a dense, well-adhered to the Ni substrate aluminide coating of several m thickness was produced. The thickness and aluminide phase and composition (NiAl and/or Ni3Al) of the coating strongly depend on Al content and the mix of activators in the slurry. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 24 November 2008 Accepted 28 February 2009 Available online 16 March 2009 Keywords: Ni metal foam Open cell Coating Slurry process Aluminide Aluminized nickel

1. Introduction Porous metallic products, due to their unique combination of physical and mechanical properties such as low density, high specic surface area and strength, and thermal and electrical characteristics, are being mass-produced for a multitude of applications [1]. Open cell nickel structures are seriously considered for catalyst support, fuel cell, and lter material applications [2], although their predominant use so far has been as battery and battery electrode materials [24]. The strength of such structures however, may be compromised due to oxidation and corrosion, causing embitterment or metal wastage. Aluminizing the Ni foam would remedy the problem as the Nialuminides that would develop in the coating are known to have excellent high-temperature, oxidation and corrosion resistance properties [5,6]. Ni aluminides have been produced from Ni foams using the commonly used method, for developing a protective coating on Ni-base alloys, of pack cementation [7,8]. There has been a trend however lately to develop a simpler and more effective method for such a coating production through the use of a slurry. The latter technique makes use of the basic package of pack cementation, that is a mixture of solid powders, (of an Al-source, an activator and a ller material), dissolved in an organic liquid binder thus forming a viscous paste applied to the substrate and then heat treated to form the coating [9,3]. Despite the intense work in the area though there are few relative publications. The present paper investigates the possibility of developing an aluminide coating on an open cell Ni foam
Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 2310 995919; fax: +30 2310 996069. E-mail addresses: haidar@eng.auth.gr (H. Omar), dhpapado@auth.gr (D.P. Papadopoulos), stsipas@ing.uc3m.es (S.A. Tsipas), lefakis@eng.auth.gr (H. Lefakis). 0167-577X/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2009.02.069

substrate using three slurries of different composition and all heattreated at a relatively low temperature and short hold-down time.

2. Experimental The composition of the three slurries used in this investigation is given in Table 1. The procedure followed involved mixing 100 g of the solid components of the slurry with 20 ml of ethanol and 2 g of resin. The mixture was mechanically stirred for 15 min. The Ni foam specimens to be coated were dipped in the formed slurry at room temperature in air and the excess slurry was removed. This procedure was repeated at least three times and the specimens were left to dry in a desiccator at room temperature for 4 h. The diffusion process took place in a furnace at 650 C for 2 h in an argon atmosphere. The samples were then allowed to cool to room temperature in argon atmosphere and subsequently set in bakelite in order to be examined metallographically. The morphology and microstructure of the coatings were analyzed using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The SEM unit used was a JEOL, model JSM-5900LVand the energy dispersive X-ray system analysis system was INCA version 4.05 Oxford instruments.

Table 1 Slurry compositions (wt.%). Slurry A B C Al 6 10 16 AlCl3 3 2 3 NH4Cl 2 2 Al2O3 91 86 79

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H. Omar et al. / Materials Letters 63 (2009) 13871389

Fig. 1. SEM micrograph of a sample of pure nickel foam (made by Inco) used as substrate in the present study.

The Ni foam used as substrate was supplied by Inco (Fig. 1), and produced by metal deposition on a polymer pre-form followed by sintering. It had a porosity of 92%, an average pore size of 0,6 mm, and a density of 0,7 Mg/m3, resulting in a relative density of 7,8%.

3. Results and discussion No macroscopic shape change of the specimens or distortion of the foam cell structure was observed after the slurry coating process was complete conrming that any mass gain that occurs is due to Al deposition on strut surfaces and/or diffusion into them, as also observed in Al coated Ni foams by pack-aluminizing [7]. All coatings produced by the three slurries used were visible by optical and scanning electron microscopy and seemed to be well adhered to the Ni substrate.

Fig. 3. a) SEM cross-sectional views of a Ni foam strut coated with a Slurry B produced coating; b) Al and Ni line scan prole along tie line CD.

Fig. 2. a) SEM cross-sectional views of a Ni foam strut coated with a Slurry A; b) Al and Ni line scan prole along tie line AB.

Fig. 2 shows a SEM micrograph of a cross section of a segment of a Ni foam strut (light color) coated with a Slurry A produced coating and embedded in Bakelite (dark color). One can easily distinguish the presence of the coating along the perimeter of the Ni strut cross section, not only on external areas directly exposed to the slurry, but also on the seemingly inaccessible internal ones, such as those possibly created by local strut folds, as shown in the vicinity of point A, Fig. 2(a). No obvious cracks were found in the coating, which ranged in thickness between 4 m and 8 m (points A and B respectively). A Ni and Al line scan prole along the tie-line AB, Fig. 2(b), reveals that Al diffusion has taken place through the Ni strut producing, as expected, thicker/Al-richer and thinner/Al-poorer coatings along the areas of points B and A respectively. The extent of coating thickness produced, being the result of a diffusion controlled mechanism obviously depends on temperature and holding time, however, determination of the kinetics of aluminizing for the given system/material is rather complicated due to several emerging intermetallic phases [10], material discontinuities and varied substrate (strut) geometries [11]. A SEM micrograph of a Ni strut cross section coated with a Slurry B produced coating is shown in Fig. 3(a). The corresponding Ni and Al line scan prole along the tie-line CD, Fig. 3(b), reveals that the Al concentration through the Ni strut was about twice as high as the one produced by Slurry A; that is, Slurry B is much more effective compared to Slurry A, in facilitating Al diffusion into Ni. The same effect, albeit more pronounced, that is enhanced Al diffusion into Ni compared to the previous two slurries, is shown in Fig. 4, corresponding to a Slurry C produced coating on a Ni strut sample.

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The relative efcacy among the three slurries used in delivering higher Al concentrations to a longer distance from the surface of a strut is shown in Fig. 5, through Al concentration proles derived from EDS analysis data. The higher effectiveness of Slurries C over B, and B over A, is surely related to the higher Al content in the slurry mix [12], as well as to the mix of the activators used [13]. The exact role of each one of these parameters is to be determined in a systematic study currently underway. The above data show that several-m thick Ni-aluminide coatings may be produced even at a relatively low temperature (650 C) and short heating time (2 h), using the slurry process of this investigation. The coatings are composed of different mixtures of Ni-aluminide phases (Ni3Al, NiAl), depending on the slurry mix and the distance from the surface into the coating. The exact phase of evolution [12], identication and composition through the coating is rather complicated for the present system and is the object of a more detailed analysis. 4. Conclusions The present investigation has shown that a dense, well-adhered aluminized coating on a Ni foam substrate may be produced by a simple, one-step slurry coating technique even at a relatively low temperature (650 C) and short heating time (2 h). The coating thickness expectedly increased with Al content and a two-activator mix in the slurry, but for all three cases examined here it was in excess of 5 m. Depending on slurry composition the coating may contain a relatively uniform but low Al concentration distribution through it (Slurry A) or develop aluminides such as Ni3Al from surface to mid thickness region (Slurry B), or NiAl and Ni3Al towards the surface and mid thickness region respectively, (Slurry C).

Fig. 5. Al concentration proles through coatings produced by three slurries, at 650 C/ 2hr (Slurry A, Slurry B, Slurry C); concentration values were determined by EDS analysis.

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Fig. 4. a) SEM cross-sectional views of a Ni foam strut coated with a Slurry C produced coating; b) Al and Ni line scan prole along tie line FG.