Optimization of electrophoretic deposition of alumina onto steel substrates from its suspension in iso-propanol using statistical design of experiments

Statistical design of experiments was used to investigate the effect the process parameters on electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of alumina onto steel substrates from its suspension in iso-propanol. The process parameters considered were (i) concentration of particles in the suspension (solid loading), (ii) electrode separation, (iii) applied potential, and (iv) deposition time on the quantity of ceramic particles electrophoretically deposited. A 24 full factorial matrix, with four repetitions of the center point, was used to develop the predictive regression equation for deposition of alumina per unit area of the electrode in the design space. The results show that particle concentration has the most dominant effect with more than 50% contribution to the deposited amount. A good correlation was obtained between predicted and experimental values suggesting that the model can predict data accurately in the experimental matrix.