Fundamental study of the mechanism for deposition of sol particles on a substrate

TThe background for the project lies in a need for a further fundamental understanding of the basic processes and forces that determine the success and failure of a sol gel coating. The basic forces of attraction between substrate and sol particles, and l ater, between particles adhering to a substrate and free sol particles will be investigated. The build-up of a film as a function of different deposition parameters will be monitored, as will the drying of the film under various drying conditions. Hopeful ly, this investigation will help us understand the influence of the different parameters on the deposition of the green film and the quality of the final film, thus enabling us to predict more accurately the most suitable deposition and drying conditions for sol-gel films. This will provide a scientific foundation that will be invaluable in future coatings projects. The proposed project will utilize many different tools in order to achieve the stated goal. The deposition process, under various depositio n parameters, will be monitored through weight gain measurements and also through more exotic techniques such as reflectometry, ellipsometry and quartz crystal microbalance. AFM will be used to measure the forces between the sol particles and the substrat e, and between sol particles, and also to monitor film drying in situ. Finally the dried films will be analyzed by appropriate electron microscopy methods. Part of this project will serve as the research part of the dissertation work for one Ph.D. studen t.