Influence of a steel substrate surface roughness ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF A PEEK COATING DEPOSITED WITH THE ELECTROPHORETIC METHOD

The mechanical properties, adhesion and roughness of polymer coatings depend on many factors, including the unevenness of the substrate surface. Nevertheless, the influence of the substrate surface roughness is related to the coating type and substrate material and the used deposition method. Therefore, the effect of the surface roughness of a structural steel substrate on the mechanical properties of a PEEK coating is ambiguous. The indentation tests conducted show that, at a specific load of the indenter, the roughness of the steel substrate surface does not significantly affect the Vicker’s hardness of the tested PEEK coatings. The average Vicker’s hardness and elastic modulus are approximately 300 MPa and 5.6 Gpa, respectively, at the lowest of the applied loads, regardless of the surface roughness level of the steel substrate. Nevertheless, the surface roughness of the steel substrate after fine grinding of Ra = 0.21 μm, compared to the polished one with Ra = 0.005 μm, meant that adhesion improved, and the scratch hardness increased by approximately 130 to 370 [MPa] of the PEEK coating.