Coatings on Materials Testing

A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the substrate. Coating is often applied for decorative or functional purposes, or both. The coating itself may be an all-over coating, completely covering the substrate, or it may only cover parts of the substrate. The global coating market value was estimated to be USD 8.38 billion in 2016. Rising application scope of the products, most notably in the aerospace and automotive industries owing to advantages such as thickness capability, wear and corrosion protection, low toxic gas emissions, electrical resistance, is expected to drive coating market growth over the forecast period. And functional coatings may be applied to change the surface properties of the substrate, such as adhesion, wettability, corrosion resistance, or wear resistance. In other cases, e.g. semiconductor device fabrication (where the substrate is a wafer), the coating adds a completely new property, such as a magnetic response or electrical conductivity, and forms an essential part of the finished product. Therefore, with the extensive application of the coating materials, the property analysis of the coating materials is also getting popular.

The properties of the coating depends on various factors such as spraying equipment, materials, processes, etc. The evaluation of coating performance involves many test methods. The coating properties mainly include the coating physical properties (such as appearance, density, thickness, mechanical properties like bond strength, abrasion resistance, residual stress, etc.) and chemical properties (such as chemical composition, corrosion resistance, heat resistance, electrochemical properties, etc.). In actual work, it is not required that all the above-mentioned properties of the coating be tested. Instead, different test items are selected according to different purposes. Alfa Chemistry will gather the composition, physical, and chemical properties information of the coatings by providing all kinds of analysis results. We have the ability to analyze coating materials to suit different national standards. We provide comprehensive coating material analysis including, but not be limited to, the following:

Elemental analysis

• Flame and Electro-Atom Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS)

• Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES)

• Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)

Morphology analysis

• Scanning Electron Microscope/Transmission Electron Microscope (SEM/TEM)

• Scanning Electron Microscope Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM- EDX)

• Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)

Hardness test

• Rockwell Hardness

Metal oxide layer analysis

• X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)

Structure Identification

• X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)

• Raman Spectroscopy and FTIR Spectroscopy

• Micro-area Electron Diffraction Analysis

Thermal analysis

• Differential Scan Calorimeter (DSC)

• Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA)

• Thermal Expansion Instrument (TEI)

• Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA)

Services:

We will provide you with highly specialized methods for the characterization of coating on materials. Customized test methods and advanced equipment are available at Alfa Chemistry for your product testing requests. If you have any concern about coating testing on your advanced materials, please feel free to contact us.