Deposition and characterization of alumina films produced by combustion flame pyrolysis

Alumina coatings have been deposited by combustion flame pyrolysis on amorphous silica and stainless steel substrates with the objective to study the effect of solvent composition, Fe³⁺ addition and determine the thermal fatigue lifetime. The effect of solvent composition on crystallinity, transformation temperature and hardness are studied, three different solvent compositions are chosen for preparing the aluminium nitrate solution. Using 100% water, as-deposited films are amorphous and transform to α-alumina only upon annealing, while this equilibrium phase is directly obtained but with a porous microstructure by using 100% methanol. The hardness of the coatings varies with the flammability of the solvents. The effect of Fe³⁺ addition on the crystallization of alumina is studied by combustion pyrolysis of aqueous solutions of Al³⁺ and Fe³⁺ nitrates. Small amount of ferric nitrate reduced the transformation temperature by 100 °C. Thermal cycling of as-deposited amorphous alumina on stainless steel substrate is carried out at different temperatures to determine the thermal fatigue lifetime.