Understanding the structural and electrochemical properties of YSZ coating deposited by electrophoretic deposition

Industries suffer significant financial losses when stainless-steel components are damaged under corrosive conditions. To counter this problem, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coating was deposited by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) on AISI 441 stainless steel substrate to improve its corrosion resistance properties. In this study, the impact of varying the sintering temperature on the microstructure and corrosion resistance of the YSZ coating was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to analysis the phases and surface chemistry of the coatings. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal microscopy revealed that increasing the sintering temperature from 800 °C to 1100 °C increased the grain size and surface roughness. Compared with the other coatings, the sintered YSZ coating at 1000 °C had superior corrosion resistance. This research confirmed the potential of the YSZ coating produced by the EPD technique on a stainless-steel substrate to function as a reliable interface for corrosion-resistant application.