Coatings are widely used to protect metal surfaces from corrosion and environmental degradation. Serious environmental hazards associated with the most widespread coating processes, such as electrodeposition and painting, have spurred the development of environmentally benign coating technologies. Jet Process Corporation has developed an environmentally benign, high rate, low cost coating process, Jet Vapor Deposition (JVD). In addition to being a practical, environmentally sound alternative, JVD also has the capability to deposit multicomponent coatings with excellent compositional control. The corrosion resistant properties of stainless steels, a class of multicomponent materials, are well known. Recent work by Prof. Clayton et al, the collaborators in this proposal, and others has shown that nitrogen alloying leads to significant improvements in the corrosion resistance of stainless steels: especially for stainless steels containing Ni and Mo. Preliminary work on synthesizing coatings of stainless and nitrided stainless steel using JVD is extremely promising: it suggests that JVD offers the practical possibility of synthesizing coatings of such materials at around room temperature. Consequently, in the proposed Phase I program, they will focus on the synthesis of JVD stainless steels and nitrided stainless steels and demonstration of their corrosion resistance. Phase II extensions of the program will include applications to a variety of surfaces and scale-up of the coating process. Achievement of these goals will result in an economical, pollution-free process for the synthesis of stainless and nitrided stainless steel coatings.
