Parameter Optimization of Amalgamated Al2O3-40% TiO2 Atmospheric Plasma Spray Coating on SS304 Substrate Using TLBO Algorithm

SS304 is a commercial grade stainless steel which is used for various engineering applications like shafts, guides, jigs, fixtures, etc. Ceramic coating of the wear areas of such parts is a regular practice which significantly enhances the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF). The final coating quality depends mainly on the coating thickness, surface roughness and hardness which ultimately decides the life. This paper presents an experimental study to effectively optimize the Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS) process input parameters of Al2O3-40% TiO2 ceramic coatings to get the best quality of coating on commercial SS304 substrate. The experiments are conducted with a three-level L18 Orthogonal Array (OA) Design of Experiments (DoE). Critical input parameters considered are: spray nozzle distance, substrate rotating speed, current of the arc, carrier gas flow and coating powder flow rate. The surface roughness, coating thickness and hardness are considered as the output parameters. Mathematical models are generated using regression analysis for individual output parameters. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is applied to generate weights for the individual objective functions and a combined objective function is generated. An advanced optimization method, Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization algorithm (TLBO), is applied to the combined objective function to optimize the values of input parameters to get the best output parameters and confirmation tests are conducted based on that. The significant effects of spray parameters on surface roughness, coating thickness and coating hardness are studied in detail.

Process-structure-property relationship for plasma-sprayed iron-based amorphous/crystalline composite coatings

This study explores the fabrication of Fe-based amorphous/crystalline coating by air plasma spraying and its dependency on the coating parameters(plasma power,primary gas flow rate,powder feed rate,and stand-off distance).X-ray diffraction of the coatings deposited at optimized spray parameters showed the presence of amorphous/crystalline phase.Coatings deposited at a lower plasma power and highest gas flow rate exhibited better density,hardness,and wear resistance.All coatings demonstrated equally good resistance against the corrosive environment(3.5wt%NaCl solution).Mechanical,wear,and tribological studies indicated that a single process parameter optimization cannot provide good coating performance;instead,all process parameters have a unique role in defining better properties for the coating by con-trolling the in-flight particle temperature and velocity profile,followed by the cooling pattern of molten droplet before impingement on the substrate.

Influences of substrate temperature on microstructure and corrosion behavior of APS Ni_(50)Ti_(25)Al_(25) inter-metallic coating

In the present investigation, Ni_（50）Ti_（25）Al_（25）（at.%） mechanically alloyed powder is deposited on carbon steel substrate.Before the coating process, the substrate is heated to temperature ranging from room temperature to 400℃. The microstructure, porosity, microhardness, adhesion strength, and corrosion behavior of the coating are investigated at different substrate temperatures. Results show that coating porosity is lower on high temperature surface. Microhardness and adhesion strength of the deposition layer on the substrate without preheating have lower values than with preheating. The polarization test result shows that corrosion performance of the coating is dependent on micro cracks and porosities and the increasing of substrate temperature can improve the quality of coating and corrosion performance.

Influence of laser re-melting and vacuum heat treatment on plasma-sprayed FeCoCrNiAl alloy coatings

FeCoCrNiAl high entropy alloy coatings were prepared by supersonic air-plasma spraying.The coatings were post-treated by vacuum heat treatment at 600 and 900°C,and laser re-melting with 300 W,respectively,to study the influence of different treatments on the structure and properties of the coatings.The phase constitution,microstructure and microhardness of the coatings after treatments were investigated using X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry.Results showed that the as-sprayed coatings consisted of pure metal and Fe-Cr.The AlNi;phase was obtained after the vacuum heat treatment process.A body-centered cubic structure with less AlNi;could be found in the coating after the laser re-melting process.The average hardness values of the as-sprayed coating and the coatings with two different temperature vacuum heat treatments and with laser re-melting were 177,227,266 and 682 HV,respectively.This suggests that the vacuum heat treatment promoted the alloying process of the coatings,and contributed to the enhancement of the coating wear resistance.The laser re-melted coating showed the best wear resistance.