Novel electro-spark deposition (ESD) technology and applications

电火花沉积（ESD）是一种微焊接工艺，在航空航天、国防、汽车、核工业和医疗等领域广泛应用于高精度产品的表面涂层修复或表面改性。总部位于加拿大安大略的Huys Industries Limited是一家领先的电阻焊耗材公司，几十年来在使用ESD涂层以提高镀锌汽车钢板的电阻点焊（RSW）电极尖端寿命方面积累了丰富的经验。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。 这项研究是为了进一步开发Huys的专利和正在申请专利的ESD施加器和电源，并扩大其在其他涂层/工件组合上的应用。具体而言，本研究的目标是（1）改进Huys的ESD机器的设计（2）在研究和了解工艺参数、涂层特性和电极寿命之间的关系的基础上，采用TiB_2涂层提高RSW电极寿命;以及（3）将Huys的ESD技术扩展到其他应用领域（即，新的涂层和工件组合）的基础上研究工艺参数，涂层特性和性能之间的关系。 通过这项工作开发的知识有可能提高许多工业部门的生产力和制造产品的质量。这项工作还旨在每年培养3名研究生，一名本科合作学生，一名博士后研究员和一名研究工程师，这些高素质的人才（HQP）是安大略和加拿大制造业急需的。

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.