Effect of heat treatment on the modification of copper-zinc coating deposited by gas-dynamic spraying

The article presents the results of studying the effect of temperature and duration of stepwise heat treatment on the modification of a copper-zinc coating of the “brass” type, applied by cold gas-dynamic spraying with a phase composition based on copper, a solid solution of the electron type based on Cu₅Zn₈ (γ-phase) and a disordered solid solution based on CuZn₃ (ε-phase) with a mass fraction of 35.6, 41.3 and 14.6 wt. %, respectively. Heat treatment at a temperature of 430 °C for 10 min is accompanied by structural and phase transformations to a composition based on two solid solutions of zinc in copper with a copper content of 94.9 and 59.8 at. % and a solid solution of the electron type based on CuZn (βʹ-phase) with a mass fraction of 8.6, 44.1 and 34.6 wt. %. An increase in temperature by 100 °C for 20 min to 530 °C (V ≈ 5 °C/min) leads to the formation of a coating structure based on a solid solution of zinc in copper with a copper content of 60.2 at. % and a solid solution of the electron type based on CuZn (βʹ-phase) with a mass fraction of 84.7 and 10.4 wt. %, respectively, which in terms of chemical and phase composition corresponds to double brass type CW509L. An increase in the total holding time in the furnace to the maximum of 60 min leads to an increase in the copper content in the α-phase to 62.8 at. %, which is associated with a change in the chemical composition of the coating (Zn = 39.9 at. % → 38.2 at. %) and the coating in terms of chemical and phase composition corresponds to double brass type CW508L. Heat treatment for 40 and 50 min is accompanied by the formation of a coating with the composition of “double brass” based on the α-phase with a copper content of 61.1 at. % and γ-hase and a solid solution of zinc in copper with a copper content of 65.9 at. % and a disordered solid solution based on CuZn₃ , which is due to the violation of the thermodynamic equilibrium between the phase and chemical composition and a change in the nature of the diffusion process. Stepwise heat treatment allows to significantly – up to 6 times reduce the time of modification of the copper-zinc coating of the “brass” type to double brass of the CW509L type.

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