Wear Resistant Coating for Brake Disks With Unique Surface Appearance and Methods for Coating

Abstract

A brake disk including carbon steel, stainless steel or a ceramic composite material and coated with a coating material that is wear and corrosion resistant and when applied properly allows for the coated surface to have a variety of “textured” appearances. For example, the coated surface can be made to look like woven carbon fiber. The aesthetically pleasing, wear and corrosion resistant coating overlays wear surfaces and portions of the brake disk that will be, in many cases, visible when the brake disk is installed on the vehicle. The coating includes a first layer of a metal, such as a pure titanium metal, and a second layer that can include a Nitride, Boride, Carbide or Oxide of the metal used in the first layer. The coating can be applied using a physical vapor deposition source such as a cathodic arc source with a controlled gas atmosphere.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for manufacturing a coated brake disk having parallel surfaces comprising:
 surface finishing at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of a brake disk to impart a predetermined three dimensional surface texture having peaks, valleys and angular surfaces between the peaks and valleys;   applying a first material to at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk through vapor deposition, wherein the first material is deposited onto the brake disk by energizing a first material source to cause charged particles of the first material source to be dissociated from the first material source and deposited on the parallel surfaces of the brake disk; and   applying at least a compound to the at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk through vapor deposition, wherein the second compound is deposited by energizing a second material source to cause charged particles of the second material source to be dissociated from the second material source, introducing a reactive gas which reacts with the charged particles of the second material forming the compound that is deposited on the parallel surfaces of the brake disk;   wherein the combination of the surface finishing and the depositing causes the at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk to exhibit a selected three dimensional surface texture.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first material is a metal with an amorphous structure. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first material is a metal with a crystalline structure. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein second material is a binary metal. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the binary metal is selected from the group consisting of a metal nitride, a metal oxide, a metal boride and a metal carbide. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the three dimensional surface texture is selected from the group consisting of a woven structure and a textured structure. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein surfacing finishing can be achieved by techniques selected from the group consisting of bead blasting, sanding, grinding, acid etching, photo-resist etching, roll forming, embossing, stamping, honing, lapping, polishing, blanching, milling, profiling and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the applying a first material comprises:
 engaging the parallel surfaces of the brake disk with a fixture of a deposition apparatus comprising at least two linear deposition sources with each of the deposition sources lying parallel to an axis and each of the deposition sources being a source of the first material; and   rotating the fixture in a planetary movement about the axis and operating the deposition sources to deposit the first material to the parallel surfaces of the brake disk.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the linear deposition sources is selected from the group consisting of a cathodic arc source, a magnetron sputtering source and an evaporative source. 
     
     
         10 . A coated brake disk comprising:
 a brake disk substrate having parallel surfaces, at least a portion of the parallel surfaces applied with a surface finish to impart a predetermined three dimensional texture to the parallel surfaces of the disk brake, wherein the outermost layer of the parallel surfaces of the disk brake maintains the predetermined three dimensional appearance when coated with at least a first layer of a first coating material and at least a second layer of a second coating material by vapor deposition.   
     
     
         11 . The coated brake disk of  claim 10 , wherein the second coating material is selected from the group of coating materials consisting of metal nitride, metal oxide, metal boride and metal carbide. 
     
     
         12 . The coated brake disk of  claim 11  wherein the metal nitride is a nitride of an active metal selected from the group of active metals consisting of titanium, chromium, zirconium, boron, hafnium and alloys thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The coated brake disk of  claim 11  wherein the metal oxide is an oxide of an active metal selected from the group of active metals consisting of titanium, chromium, zirconium, boron, hafnium and alloys thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The coated brake disk of  claim 11  wherein the metal boride is a boride of an active metal selected from the group of active metals consisting of titanium, chromium, zirconium, boron, hafnium and alloys thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The coated brake disk of  claim 16 , wherein first coating layer comprises a metal with either an amorphous structure and/or a crystalline structure, said metal being selected from the group of metals consisting of titanium, chromium, zirconium, boron, hafnium and alloys thereof. 
     
     
         16 . A method for manufacturing a coated brake disk having parallel surfaces comprising:
 surface finishing a portion of the parallel surfaces of a brake disk to impart a predetermined three dimensional pattern to the portion of the parallel surfaces of the disk brake, the three dimensional pattern including peaks, valleys and angular surfaces between the peaks and valleys;   applying at least a first layer of coating to the portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk with at least a first coating material through vapor deposition; and   applying at least a second layer of coating to the portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk with at least a second coating material through vapor deposition wherein more of the second layer of coating is deposited on the peaks than is deposited on the angular surfaces between the peaks and valleys;   wherein the outermost layer of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk maintains the predetermined three dimensional appearance after depositing the at least first and at least second layers.   
     
     
         17 . A method for manufacturing a coated brake disk having parallel surfaces comprising:
 surface finishing at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of a brake disk to impart a predetermined three dimensional surface texture having peaks, valleys and angular surfaces between the peaks and valleys;   applying a first material to at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk through vapor deposition; and   applying at least a second material to the at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk through vapor deposition, wherein more of the second layer of coating is deposited on the peaks than is deposited on the angular surfaces between the peaks and valleys;   wherein the combination of the surface finishing and the application of the first and second materials causes the at least a portion of the parallel surfaces of the brake disk to exhibit a predetermined three dimensional surface texture.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein surfacing finishing can be achieved by techniques selected from the group consisting of bead blasting, sanding, grinding, acid etching, photo-resist etching, roll forming, embossing, stamping, honing, lapping, polishing, blanching, milling, profiling and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first material source and the second material source are the same material.