Investigating the properties of SiO2-TiO2-Al2O3-MgO ceramic coating created on 316 stainless steel in a microwave furnace

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of ferritization of primary powders and the time of heating in a microwave oven on the properties of the glaze created on the 316 stainless steel substrate. The desired glaze was made of TiO2, SiO2, MgO and Al2O3 powders. One series of powders was heated in the furnace for 2 h before glazing and immediately cooled in water (ferrited) and one series was directly microwaved (non-ferrited). Then the samples were cooked for 10, 20 and 30 minutes. The created glazes were evaluated by scanning electron microscope and Xray powder diffraction, hardness and adhesion tests. Microscopic images showed that with the increase of heating time, the amount of holes in the glaze is reduced and completely dense glazes are created. Porosity in nonferrite glazes caused a decrease in hardness and lack of proper adhesion of the glaze to the substrate. The hardness and stickiness of the ferrite glazes were much higher than the non-ferrite glazes.