Novel electro-spark deposition (ESD) technology and applications

电火花沉积（ESD）是一种微焊接工艺，越来越多地用于修复损坏的高价值精密产品的表面涂层或修改其表面，广泛应用于航空航天，国防，汽车，核和医疗等领域。Huys Industries Limited是一家领先的电阻焊耗材公司，总部位于加拿大安大略省，在使用ESD涂层提高锌涂层汽车钢板的电阻点焊（RSW）的电极尖端寿命方面拥有数十年的专业知识。基于与滑铁卢大学多年的合作，Huys最近开发了新的ESD技术（ESD机器和涂层材料），以提高RSW电极尖端的寿命。

Electro-spark deposition (ESD), a micro-welding process, is increasingly used to apply surface coatings for repair of damaged high value precision products or modify their surfaces for a abroad range of aerospace, defense, automobile, nuclear and medical applications. Huys Industries Limited, a leading company on resistance welding consumables headquarted in Ontario, Canada has developed expertise over a few decades in the use of ESD coating to improve electrode tip life in resistance spot welding (RSW) of Zn-coated automotive steel sheets. Based on many years' collaborations with the University of Waterloo, Huys has recently developed new ESD technologies (ESD machines and coating materials) to improve RSW electrode tip life. This research is to further develop Huys' patented and patent-pending ESD applicators and power supplies and expand their applications on other coating/workpiece combinations. Specifically, the objectives of this research are to (1) Improve the design of Huys' ESD machines (including power supplies and applicators) based on studying the effects of electrical and applicator parameters on coating characteristics and performance; (2) Improve RSW electrode tip life with TiB2 coating based on studying and understanding of relationships between process parameters, coating characteristics and electrode tip life; and (3) Expand Huys' ESD technologies into others application areas (i.e., new coating and workpiece combinations) based on studying relationships between process parameters, coating characteristics and performance. The knowledge developed through this work has the potential to improve productivity and quality of manufactured products in many industrial sectors. This work also aims to train 3 graduate students, one undergraduate co-op student, one post-doctoral fellow and one research engineer each year and these highly-qualified personnel (HQP) are badly needed by the Ontario and Canada manufacturing sectors.