Examination of Rubber Adhesion Property of Brass Film on Steel Formed by Magnetron Sputtering
Abstract Brass films were formed on steel rods by magnetron sputtering by using 63 wt% Cu - 37 wt% Zn target in Ar plasma. The brass plated steel rods were inserted in crude rubber and then cured to form various samples. Rubber-brass inter-reacted layers were investigated by cross sectional TEM observation. Evaluation of adhesion force was also conducted in order to compare with the TEM investigation. The magnetron sputtering brass film has strongly oriented columner crystal structure and thickness of the film is uniform in whole area. The magnetron sputtering film has excellent adhesion regardless of the film thickness that cannot be attained by that of commercially manufactured steel cord.