Effect of Auxiliary Gas Flow Parameters on Microstructure and Properties of Ta Coatings Prepared by Three-Cathode Atmosphere Plasma Spraying

Based on the three-cathode plasma spraying system,tantalum(Ta)coatings were pre-pared on the substrate of CuCrZr alloy.The effects of different auxiliary gas(helium)flow rates on the microstructure,phase composition,mechanical and wear resistance properties of Ta coatings were studied.The results showed that the oxidation degree of the coatings decreases first and then increases with the increase of the auxiliary gas flow.When the auxiliary gas flow rate is 70 L·min-1,the oxidation degree of the coating is the lowest,minimum value of the porosity is 0.21%,and the bonding strength reaches the maximum,59.3 MPa.At this time,the coating wear rate is 0.0012 mm^(3)·N^(-1)·m^(-1)with the best wear resistance.This indicates that the auxiliary gas flow has an important influence on the quality and surface mechanical properties of tantalum coating.

Microstructure and Properties of Plasma Spraying Boron Carbide Coating

Microstructure of plasma spray boron carbide coating was studied by SEM and TEM. its physical, mechanical and electrical properties were measured. The results showed that high microhardness. modulus and low porosity of B4C coating were manufactured by plasma spray. It was lamellar packing and dense. The B4C coating examined here contained two principal structures and two impurity phase besides major phase. The relatively small value of Young’s modulus, comparing with that of the bulk materials, is explained by porosity. The Fe impurity phase could account for the relatively high electrical conductivity of boron carbide coating by comparing with the general boron carbide materials.

Oxidation Performance of Ytterbium Disilicate/Silicon Environmental Barrier Coating via Optimized Air Plasma Spraying

Environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) play a critical role in mitigating the degradation of SiCf/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) in complex combustion environment, and improve the service life of thermal engine components. In this paper, by adjusting the parameters of atmospheric plasma spraying (APS), the spraying process of ytterbium disilicate (Yb2Si2O7) under a lower power has been optimized. A two-layer EBC system consisting of ytterbium disilicate and silicon is prepared on the SiCf/SiC composite substrate by using optimized technological parameters. The thermal resistance and water oxygen corrosion resistance of such two-layer EBC system are investigated. The results indicate that the current ytterbium disilicate/silicon EBC system exhibits good phase stability, excellent water vapor and oxygen corrosion resistance. However, the exposed silicon bonding layer tends to generate an excessive thermal growth oxide (TGO) layer known as SiO2, leading to an early spallation of the coating.

Characteristics of Plasma Spraying Torch with a Hollow Cathode

A kind of plasma spraying torch with a hollow cathode is described in this paper. The plasma torch can be used for axial powder injection in plasma spray studies. The arc characteristics of the plasma torch with vacuous gas flowrates, different gas media, are presented. The mathematical modeling and computational method are developed for predicting the temperature and velocity field inside the plasma torch.

Micro-nano structured functional coatings deposited by liquid plasma spraying

Inspired by the micro-nano structure on the surface of biological materials or living organisms,micro-nano structure has been widely investigated in the field of functional coatings.Due to its large specific surface area,porosity,and dual-scale structure,it has recently attracted special attention.The typical fabrication processes of micro-nano structured coatings include sol-gel,hydrothermal synthesis,chemical vapor deposition,etc.This paper presents the main features of a recent deposition and synthesis technique,liquid plasma spraying(LPS).LPS is an important technical improvement of atmospheric plasma spraying.Compared with atmospheric plasma spraying,LPS is more suitable for preparing functional coatings with micro-nano structure.Micro-nano structured coatings are mainly classified into hierarchical-structure and binary-structure.The present study reviews the preparation technology,structural characteristics,functional properties,and potential applications of LPS coatings with a micro-nano structure.The micro-nano structured coatings obtained through tailoring the structure will present excellent performances.

Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Splat Formation on Substrates in Plasma Spraying

Plasma sprayed coatings are built up by the accumulation of splats formed by the impacting,spreading and solidifying of molten droplets on the substrate.A three-dimensional computational model including heat transfer and solidification is established to simulate the formation process of a single splat using the computational fluid dynamics(CFD)software,FLUENT.The fluid flow and energy equations are discretized and solved according to typical finite volume method on an unstructured grid.A volume of fluid(VOF)tracking algorithm is used to track the droplet flow with free surface.In order to understand the splat formation mechanism,the process of splat formation caused by impacting and spreading of a molten nickel droplet on a polished mild steel surface is simulated.On this basis,the simulations of impact of a molten droplet on substrate with different conditions including the surface morphology,thermal conductivity,initial temperature of the substrate and the thermal contact resistance are presented.The results clearly show the effect of those parameters on the shape of the final splat and splash behaviors.

Microstructure and properties of Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-TiO_(2)composite coatings prepared by plasma spraying

Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-TiO_(2)coatings were successfully prepared by plasma spraying Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)composite powders with and without TiO_(2)addition.The effects of TiO_(2)on the phase composition,microstructure and properties of the Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)coating were studied.The results show that the Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-TiO_(2)composite powder was composed of t-ZrO_(2),a-Al_(2)O_(3),m-ZrO_(2)and rutile,while the Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-TiO_(2)composite coating consisted of t-ZrO_(2),a-Al_(2)O_(3)and c-Al_(2)O_(3).The diffraction peaks of TiO_(2)could not be detected in the Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-TiO_(2)coating even up to10 wt%TiO_(2)addition.The reason may be that TiO_(2)was dissolved in the amorphous phase or formed solid solution with c-Al_(2)O_(3)phase in the coating during cooling.Compared with the Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)coating,the as-prepared Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-TiO_(2)coating had denser microstructure,less microcracks and more amorphous phases.The density of the Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-TiO_(2)coating increased with the increase of TiO_(2)content.The Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)-10 wt%TiO_(2)coating had the most uniform and dense microstructure,possessed higher toughness,adhesive strength and wear resistance compared with the Al_(2)O_(3)-ZrO_(2)coating,which was due to its lower porosity and more uniform microstructure.

Establishing empirical relationships to predict porosity level and corrosion rate of atmospheric plasma-sprayed alumina coatings on AZ31B magnesium alloy

Plasma sprayed ceramic coatings are successfully used in many industrial applications,where high wear and corrosion resistance with thermal insulation are required.In this work,empirical relationships were developed to predict the porosity and corrosion rate of alumina coatings by incorporating independently controllable atmospheric plasma spray operational parameters(input power,stand-off distance and powder feed rate)using response surface methodology(RSM).A central composite rotatable design with three factors and five levels was chosen to minimize the number of experimental conditions.Within the scope of the design space,the input power and the stand-off distance appeared to be the most significant two parameters affecting the responses among the three investigated process parameters.A linear regression relationship was also established between porosity and corrosion rate of the alumina coatings.Further,sensitivity analysis was carried out and compared with the relative impact of three process parameters on porosity level and corrosion rate to verify the measurement errors on the values of the uncertainty in estimated parameters.

Influence of chloride ion concentration on immersion corrosion behaviour of plasma sprayed alumina coatings on AZ31B magnesium alloy

Corrosion attack of aluminium and magnesium based alloys is a major issue worldwide.The corrosion degradation of an uncoated and atmospheric plasma sprayed alumina(APS)coatings on AZ31B magnesium alloy was investigated using immersion corrosion test in NaCl solutions of different chloride ion concentrations viz.,0.01 M,0.2 M,0.6 M and 1 M.The corroded surface was characterized by an optical microscope and X-ray diffraction.The results showed that the corrosion deterioration of uncoated and coated samples were significantly influenced by chloride ion concentration.The uncoated magnesium and alumina coatings were found to offer a superior corrosion resistance in lower chloride ion concentration NaCl solutions(0.01 M and 0.2 M NaCl).On the other hand the coatings and Mg alloy substrate were found to be highly susceptible to localized damage,and could not provide an effective corrosion protection in solutions containing higher chloride concentrations(0.6 M and 1 M).It was found that the corrosion resistance of the ceramic coatings and base metal gets deteriorated with the increase in the chloride concentrations.

Effect of experimental parameters on the micro hardness of plasma sprayed alumina coatings on AZ31B magnesium alloy

Surface treatment of engineering materials has recently become important for serviceable engineering components.Many techniques such as thermal and thermo chemical surface treatments have been used to develop surface characteristics of materials.Hardness is the most important property,which influences considerably service life characteristics of coatings.In this investigation,alumina coatings were deposited by atmospheric plasma spray technique under different levels of power,stand-off distances and powder feed rates.Empirical relationship was developed to predict the micro hardness of alumina coatings by incorporating the plasma spray process parameters.The input power and the stand-off distance appeared to be the most significant two parameters affecting the hardness of the coating among the three investigated process parameters.Further,correlating the spray parameters with coating properties enables the identification of characteristics regime to achieve desired quality of coatings.

Prediction and optimization of process variables to maximize the Young’s modulus of plasma sprayed alumina coatings on AZ31B magnesium alloy

Like other manufacturing techniques,plasma spraying has also a non-linear behavior because of the contribution of many coating variables.This characteristic results in finding optimal factor combination difficult.Subsequently,the issue can be solved through effective and strategic statistical procedures integrated with systematic experimental data.Plasma spray parameters such as power,stand-off distance and powder feed rate have significant influence on coating characteristics like Young’s modulus.This paper presents the use of statistical techniques in specifically response surface methodology(RSM),analysis of variance,and regression analysis to develop empirical relationship to predict Young’s modulus of plasma-sprayed alumina coatings.The developed empirical relationships can be effectively used to predict Young’s modulus of plasma-sprayed alumina coatings at 95%confidence level.Response graphs and contour plots were constructed to identify the optimum plasma spray parameters to attain maximum Young’s modulus in alumina coatings.A linear regression relationship was established between porosity and Young’s modulus of the alumina coatings.

Influence of processing parameters and heat treatment on phase composition and microstructure of plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings

Air plasma spraying process was employed to fabricate various hydroxyapatite(HA)coatings on titanium substrates.The influence of processing parameters on the phase composition and the microstructure of the obtained coatings was investigated.The effect of heat treatment on as-sprayed coating in terms of the crystallinity and microstructure was also studied.The phase composition of coatings was analyzed by X-ray diffraction(XRD)and FTIR.The surface and cross-section morphologies and microstructure of coatings as well as the morphology of feedstock were evaluated using scanning electron microscope(SEM).The crystallization temperature of amorphous HA phase in as-sprayed coating was examined by using differential thermal analysis(DTA). The results suggest that phase composition and microstructure of as-sprayed HA coatings strongly depend on the spraying parameters,and heat treatment at 760 ℃for 2 h is one of effective means for increasing the crystallinity and improvement in microstructure of as-sprayed HA coatings.

Performance of plasma-sprayed CuNiIn coatings and Mo coatings subjected to fretting fatigue

During atmospheric plasma spraying,a cooling process usually plays an important role in the coating quality,especially for the oxidation containment of metallic coatings.CuNiIn and Mo coatings were prepared using atmospheric plasma spraying with different cooling processes.The obtained coatings were characterized in terms of microstructure,microhardness and tensile strengths.The relation between the coating microstructure and their fretting fatigue behavior was emphasized.The results show that the sensitivity of Mo coatings to the cooling process is lower than CuNiIn coatings.The resistance to fretting fatigue is determined by the coating microhardness,correlated with the contents of oxides and pores.The fretting wear mechanisms of both the coatings are galling,third body abrasive wear and material transfer.

Fabrication and performance of atmospheric plasma sprayed solid oxide fuel cells with liquid antimony anodes

A solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC)with a liquid antimony anode(LAA)is a potential energy conversion technology for the use of impurity-containing fuels.Atmospheric plasma spraying(APS)technology has become a promising LAASOFC preparation method because of its economy and convenience.In this paper,button SOFCs with different cathode materials and ratios of pore former were prepared by the APS method and were operated at 750C.The effect of the cathode structure on the electrochemical performance of the LAA-SOFCs was analyzed,and an optimized spraying method for LAA-SOFCs was developed.A tubular LAA-SOFC was prepared using the APS method based on the optimized spraying method,and a peak power of 2.5 W was reached.The tubular cell was also measured at a constant current of 2 A for 20 h and was fed with a sulfur-containing fuel to demonstrate its impurity resistance and electrode stability.

Influence of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia and Hydrothermal Treatment on Plasma Sprayed Hydroxyapatite Coatings

A post-treatment of hydrothermal process was conducted to evaluate its effects on the material characteristics and mechanical properties of plasma-sprayed pure HA and HA/20% YSZ coatings.Surface morphology and microstructural changes,relative element contents as well as phase transformations were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy,energy dispersive spectroscopy,and X-ray diffractometry.Both microhardness and Young’s modulus were measured.CaCO3 was found existing before and after the whole process of post-treatment.Peaks of impurity phases such as CaO,TCP,and TTCP of as-sprayed coatings were observed to disappear while HA peaks show a tendency of getting higher and wider over time.Surface morphology of SEM analysis presents a clear deposition behavior of ultrafine HA crystallized particles and cross-sectional analysis exhibits a dense and fine structure.Mechanical properties of HA/20%YSZ coatings are found to be significantly higher than those of pure HA coatings and both of which displayed an overall increase with the heating time,indicating enhanced performances.

Laser Remelting of Plasma Sprayed NiCrAlY and NiCrAlY-Al_2O_3 Coatings

Two types of plasma sprayed coatings (NiCrAlY and NiCrAlY-A12O3) were remelted by a 5 kW cw CO2 laser. With increasing laser power and decreasing traverse speed in the ranges of 200-700 W and 5-30 mm/s respectively, the melted track grew in width and depth. In the optimum range of laser parameters, a homogeneous remelted layer without voids, cavities, unmelted particles and microcracks was formed. On the surface of remelted layers, Al203 and YAIO3 were detected. As a result of isothermal oxidation tests, weight gains of laser remelted coatings were obviously lower than that only plasma sprayed, especially laser remelted NiCrAlY-Al2O3 coatings. The effects of laser remelting and incorporation of A12O3 second phase in N1CrAlY matrix on high temperature oxidation resistance were discussed.

Protection Performance of Plasma Sprayed Al_(2)O_(3)-13 wt%TiO_(2) Coating Sealed with an Organic-inorganic Hybrid Agent

An organic-inorganic hybrid sealing agent was fabricated and used in the plasma sprayed Al_(2)O_(3)-13 wt%TiO_(2)coating,and conventional silicone agent was also used for comparison.Protection performance of the coatings was comprehensively evaluated based on both anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling properties.The results reveal that the sealing treatment is remarkably useful to decrease the porosity of the coating,and the porosity of the coating sealed with the hybrid agent is only 0.035%.Immersion corrosion test and Tafel polarization test reveal that the sealed coating with the hybrid agent exhibits a better corrosion resistance by compared with the coating sealed with silicone agent.The corrosion current density i_(corr) of the hybrid agent sealed coating is only 0.7×10^(-6)A·cm^(-2).Moreover,anti-biofouling tests both in the outdoor analogue hydraulic environment and in the natural marine environment prove that the mentioned novel coating presents a better combination of corrosion resistance and anti-biofouling property by compared with the other coatings,and it could be used as a protection of metal components in the marine environment.

The Study of the Grit-blasting Parameters and Their Effects on the Adhesive Strength of the Plasma Sprayed Coatings

Surface Preparation is very important in adhesive b on ding of spray coatings to the surface of a work piece. The common practice is gr it-blasting of the surface before subjecting it to the spray coating process. In this study, grit-blasting of an AISI 4130 steel (of different heat treatmen ts) with Al 2O 3 particles was studied. Various grit-blasting parameters such as blasting particle size, the distance between blasting nozzle and the work pi ece (25, 30 and 40 cm.), blasting pressure (3,4,5,6 and 7 bars), blasting time ( 3, 6 and 10 seconds), and the blasting angle (45° and 90°) were examined in or der to find the optimum roughness. The mean roughness (Ra) of the grit-blasted surfaces were measured and the vari ations of the roughness with respect to the above mentioned variables were studi ed. The results show that by increasing blasting time, surface roughness increas es up to a maximum and then slightly decreases it with further duration of t he process. On the other hand a lengthy blasting causes some undesirable results such as an increase in residual particles between surface irregularities. There fore an optimum blasting time is of great importance. Increasing the blasting pr essure also provides a rougher surface, but in grit blasting of harder specimens the surface roughness decreases when the pressure reaches a certain limit. About the blasting angle, it was noticed that an angle of 45° results in less r esidual particles between the surface irregularities, in comparison to the angle of 90°. After grit-blasting, the specimens were plasma spray coated with 80% ZrO 2-20 % Y 2O 3 powder. The adhesive strength of the coating to the substrate was the n measured according to the DIN 50160 standard. The results show that for a certain base metal, the adhesive strength is directl y related to the surface roughness of the base material. Residual particles afte r grit-blasting the surface of the specimens can also have a strong deteriorati ng effect on adhesive strength. Finally, it was shown that the hardness of the b ase material had a direct effect on the adhesive strength of the sprayed coating s.

Preparation and characterization of LPPS NiCoCrAlYTa coatings for gas turbine engine

NiCoCrAlYTa coatings have been deposited onto an aircraft gas turbine engine blade using a LPPS unit equipped with a computerized robot. Optimal processing conditions, including spray parameters, the trajectory of the robot, and the synchronized movements between the torch and the blade, have been developed for superior coating properties. Transferred arc treatment, providing a preheating and a cleaning of the substrate surface, enhances the adherence of the coatings to the substrate. The resulting LPPS coatings show dense and uniform characteristics with ideal hardness, and good corrosion resistance to cycle oxidation.