Influence of firing temperature on interface adhesion between screen-printed Ag film and BaTiO3 substrate

Interfaces between porous metal and ceramic are commonly used in many advanced engineering components. The adhesion strength between a porous silver coating and pure barium titanate has been determined here using a blister test. The porous Ag layer was made by screen printing and sintering on a flat dense barium titanate surface. Firing temperature influences the porosity of the silver film and Ag/BaTiO3 interface strength. A simple graphic procedure was used to subtract the effect of the generalized plastic yielding in the Ag membrane from the total strain energy produced by the pressure application. The average value of the critical interface crack propagation energy Gci at the porous Ag/BaTiO3 interface ranges between 4.5 and 6.6 J/m2 while the porosity decreases from 11% to 7%. The observed trend of interfacial fracture energy can offer insights into the interfacial fracture mechanisms between porous metal films and ceramic substrates.