Comparison between acidic electroless deposited Cu, Ni coating and a physical vapor deposited (PVD) Al coating on an acrylonitrile– butadiene–styrene (ABS) substrate

Abstract

Abstract The coating is used to provide protection or functional properties to the surfaces of the substrate. In this study, acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene plastic was coated with copper/ nickel by using an acidic electrolysis deposition method and with aluminum using the physical vapor deposition method. It has been investigated to find out which of these coating methods can be used as an outdoor lighting reflector. Therefore, these two coating methods were compared using sodium carbonate test, scratch test, surface roughness and reflection efficiency tests. In addition, copper/nickel deposited and aluminum deposited on acrylonitrile– butadiene–styrene plastic surfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. The surface roughness and reflection efficiency of acrylonitrile–butadiene– styrene plastic coated with aluminum applying the plasma vapor deposition method was more efficient than copper/ nickel coated acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene obtained by applying a non-electric bath method. It has been determined that the samples with electroless copper/nickel coating have a better outdoor resistance than the aluminum coated samples. On the other hand, it was also determined that the surface roughness and reflection efficiency of the aluminum coated samples was better with the plasma vapor deposition method than that of the electroless copper and nickel coated samples. The results show that aluminum coating with the physical vapor deposition method on acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene plastic is more suitable for reflector technology in terms of light efficiency.