{
  "abstract": "Hollow glass microspheres (HGMS) and glass microspheres (GMS) are a promising additive manufacturing powder feedstock for next-generation composite materials for extreme environments.In this work, a magnetron sputtering system dedicated to HGMS and GMS feedstocks was built to deposit thin conformal metal shells onto their surfaces.This powder physical vapor deposition (P-PVD) method operates by housing a vibrating stage inside a vacuum chamber to induce constant motion of the powder throughout deposition to ensure the coating continually develops around the entirety of each microsphere.Tungsten (W) and copper (Cu) were deposited for 10 h, leading to deposition rates of ~0.12 Å/s and ~0.42 Å/s, respectively.Shell thickness was obtained from cross-sections of the W-HGMS and Cu-GMS, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to image the coating-substrate interface.W-HGMS had an average coating thickness of ~420 ± 100 nm and Cu-GMS of ~1520 ± 340 nm.X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) assessed the coatings and found them to be primarily metal with some amounts of CuO and WO3 from ambient exposure.Finally, Cu-GMS was implemented as a feedstock material for selective laser sintering (SLS) to produce a 20 wt.% Cu-GMS/Nylon12 composite print.The Cu-GMS remained intact through the 3D printing procedure demonstrating compatibility of metal coated microspheres with SLS.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Engineered Materials (MST-7)",
    "Los Alamos National Laboratory"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Kira Shulman"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "David Ross"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Victor Siller"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Andrew Ahn"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "William Ponder"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Miranda Boyd"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Benjamin Morrow"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Joseph Torres"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Rachel Collino"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Jorge Rodriguez",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5647-5019"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/70d14qnjwtpdy.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009835/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "70d14qnjwtpdy",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009835/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2210|Additive Manufacturing Materials and Processes"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220441296",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009835/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-04",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/70d14qnjwtpdy.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009835",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009835/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "source:chemrxiv",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Magnetron Sputtering of Conformal Tungsten and Copper Coatings onto Glass Microsphere Powder via Agitation",
  "title_text": "Magnetron Sputtering of Conformal Tungsten and Copper Coatings onto Glass Microsphere Powder via Agitation",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/70d14qnjwtpdy",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}