Effect of the Ag coated ABS granules and hot-pressing temperature on the microstructure evolution and properties of novel Ag/ABS composites

In this study, Ag coated ABS granules were fabricated by using different plating bath composition and diameter of ABS granules and the effect of the Ag coated ABS granule content and hot -pressing temperature on the properties of microstructure evolution and novel Ag/ABS composites were also investigated. As a result of the study, it was found that there is a direct relationship between the composition of the coating bath and the coating. It was also observed that the diameter of the substrate directly affects the coating quality as it directly affects the total amount of granules surface area in the coating bath. The relative amount of silver deposited on the substrate decreased with increasing granule diameter. For the smallest granule diameter, 93 wt.% silver content was determined, while for the highest granule diameter this value was 87.4 wt.%. The increase in formability properties with increasing temperature led to an increase in the hardness properties of the bulk samples up to a certain temperature value. The highest hardness values were obtained at the temperature of 210 degree celsius in the hot pressing.