Deposition Behavior and Microstructural Features of Vacuum Kinetic Sprayed Aluminum Nitride

The vacuum kinetic spray (VKS) method is a relatively advanced technology by which thin and dense ceramic coatings can be fabricated via the high-speed impact of submicron-sized particles at room temperature. However, the actual bonding mechanism associated with the VKS process has not yet been elucidated. In this study, AlN powders were pretreated through ball-milling and heat-treatment processes in order to investigate the effects of microstructural changes on the deposition behavior. It was found that ball-milled and heat-treated powder with polycrystals formed by partially aligned dislocations showed considerably higher deposition rates when compared to only ball-milled powder with tangled dislocations. Therefore, in the VKS process, the deposition behavior is shown to be affected by not only the particle size and defect density, but also the microstructure of the feedstock powder.