Morphology of Coatings Deposited by Pulsed Electron Deposition Method from Polytetrafluoroethylene-Carbon Composites

PTFE/C composite targets were ablated using a pulsed electron beam of different energies to evaluate the suitability of this technique for composite coating deposition. Composite materials with two different carbon fillers and their contents (graphite-10 wt.% and coal coke-35 wt.%) were used. A PTFE target was used as reference material. The chemical and physical structure of the coatings was investigated using FTIR, XPS, and XRD. The topography was investigated using optical microscopy, SEM, and AFM. In addition, the contact angle and surface energy of the coatings were evaluated. It was shown that the presence of carbon particles in the polymer matrix decreased the deposition rate but greatly reduced the degradation of PTFE. It is hypothesized that the high content of conductive particles reduces the capability of the pulsed electron beam process to maintain the integrity of the filler particles during the coating deposition process.