Wear and Corrosion Study of Sputtered Zirconium thin films on SS316L for Windmill Application

The Aim of this study is to observe the Wear and Corrosion behavior of Zirconium coated 316L stainless steel. After polishing, SS316L was coated with Zirconium employing DC sputtering process (a technique of physical vapor deposition).Structure characterization techniques including Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were utilized to investigate the microstructure and crystallinity of the coating. Salt spray test was performed by spraying Sodium chloride in order to determine corrosion resistance behavior of the coated sample. Pin on disc wear test was performed by hardened and tempered EN31 steel pin in order to determine and compare the Wear resistance behavior of Coated and uncoated samples. The Objective is to recommend the zirconium coated Stainless steel SS316L can be a choice for Off-shore wind mills where the shafts undergo Wear and corrosion problems.