Feasibility Study of Creating Chrome and Copper Coatings on Stainless Steel Using Electric Discharge Coating Method

electrical discharge coating (EDC) is the simplest way to deposit a thin or thick coating on the surface of a substrate to change the properties of this undesirable layer. In the EDC process, the molten pool produced due to sparking in electrical discharge is combined with material particles from the loosely bonded compacted electrode (green compacted) and then rapidly cooled to form a coated layer. Extensive methods for coating the surface of the substrate exist such as electroplating, electroless plating, vapor deposition methods, thermal spraying and many others. These processes have disadvantages such as high capital costs, complexity, higher setup complexity and space requirements that limit their implementation to some extent. Among all coating methods, EDC has advantages over other coating methods. For EDC, there is no need to set up any equipment to create a vacuum or isolation environment around the bed. Also, only by changing the different variables of the machine, the thickness can be changed and the characteristics of the coating layer can be controlled. This study focuses on chrome ceramic coatings formed in the EDC process on stainless steel substrates (ST37) with process parameters with 8 amp current and 100 μs on time. The results showed that the hardness of stainless steel coated with chromium and copper increased to 1284 (HV) in electrical discharge.