Papers by Keyword: Plasma Spraying

Abstract: In the thermal spraying process, spray material is heated, melted, and accelerated by a high temperature flame. Thermal spraying can produce thick materials that rapidly solidify, because the alloy droplets accumulate successively on the substrate and solidify at a cooling rate in the range of 105-108Ks-1. Depending on the cooling conditions of the substrate and on the alloy composition, deposits are produced with metastable phases or extremely fine crystalline phases. Thermal spraying is an attractive method for the production of composite deposits with fine particles formed in-situ. In particular, iron based alloy with vanadium carbide, is useful in metal molds and also in pump parts due to its high wear resistance and high corrosion resistance. In the present work, low-pressure plasma spraying of Fe-C-V/Ni-Mg and Fe-C-V-Cr-Ni/Ni-Mg blend powders were iron based composite deposits with finely dispersed vanadium carbide particles. The as-sprayed deposit produced from Fe-C-V/Ni-Mg blend powder is composed of αFe and V8C7. The as-sprayed deposit produced from Fe-C-V-Cr-Ni/Ni-Mg blend powder is made up of γFe, αFe, V8C7 and Cr7C3. The fine precipitates of approximately 0.3μm in the as-sprayed deposit are carbide. With increasing the heat-treatment temperature up to 1273K, the carbide particles coarsen. The hardness of as-sprayed deposit produced from the Fe-C-V-Cr-Ni/Ni-Mg, which has many fine carbide precipitates, is the hardest of the deposits.

Abstract: Mechanical behavior and fracture mechanisms of plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings on Ti-6Al-4V substrate were assessed taking into consideration two variables: the coating thickness and the substrate roughness. The results show that the specimens having a substrate arithmetic average roughness parameter Ra = 2.29 µm is favorable with respect to Ra = 1.23 µm. For coating thickness above 105 µm, cracks can be observed in the coating/substrate interface and the higher critical load Pc2 (used generally in comparative evaluation of adherence) decreases. A 90 µm coating thickness sprayed on a substrate having an arithmetic average roughness parameter Ra equal to 2.29 µm seems to be the best compromise between microstructure, mechanical resistance (high critical loads and fairly good contact quality) and long term stability in the physiological medium (low dissolution rate) for an orthopedic application.

Abstract: Plasma spray processes have been widely used to produce high performance coatings of a wide range of Materials (metallic, non-metallic, ceramics), offering protection from, eg. wear, extreme temperature, chemical attack and environmental corrosion. To obtain good quality coatings, spray parameters must be carefully selected. Due to the large variety in process parameters, it is difficult to optimize the process for each specific coating and substrate combinations. Furthermore modelling the spray process allows a better understanding of the process sequences during thermal spraying. Good agreement of the virtual spraying process with the real coating formation is achieved by modelling the particular process steps. The simulation of coating formation to estimate the process parameters is an important tool to develop new coating structures with defined properties. In this work, the process of plasma sprayed coating has been analyzed by numerical simulation. Commercial code is used to predict the plasma jet characteristics, plasma –particle interaction, and coating formation. Using this model we can obtain coating microstructure and characteristics which form a foundation for further improvement of an advanced ceramic coating build up model.

Abstract: Thermal sprayed WC-Co coatings are used extensively to enhance the wear resistance of a wide range of engineering components. In this paper, erosive resistance of plasma atmospheric sprayed WC-12Co coatings has been evaluated. Solid particle erosion tests were conducted on these coatings at different angles of impact with silica and alumina abrasives of size 250 µm. Coatings have been deposited by using micrometric and nanometric agglomerated powders, employing H2 and He as plasmogen gas. In order to determine the erosion regime (ductile or brittle), the influence of impact angle on the erosion rate has been studied. Optical microscope and FESEM have been used to analyze the eroded surface. The influence of the plasmogen gas and the powder employed on the erosive behaviour of the coating has been evaluated. An attempt to connect the erosive behaviour with mechanical properties and microstructure has been made. Hardness has been determined by means of several measurements of Vickers microhardness; fracture toughness has been estimated through indentation method. Identification of phases has been made by means of X Ray diffraction.

Abstract: Conventional thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems consist of a duplex structure with a metallic bondcoat and a ceramic, heat isolative topcoat. In modern TBCs the ceramic topcoat is further divided into layers with different functions. One example is the double layer system in which conventional yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is used as bottom and new materials as pyrochlores or perovskites are used as topcoat layers. These systems demonstrated an improved temperature capability compared to standard YSZ. Examples of such systems will be shown. In modern gas turbines the increased temperatures and gas pressures lead to an increased fraction of radiative heat flow. Coatings with increased reflectivity can be used to avoid the direct heating of the metallic substrates by this radiation. An effective method to produce such coatings is suspension plasma spraying. These reflective coatings are deposited on top of the TBC system and will lead to a further grading and improved performance of the coating.

Abstract: Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) have been employed for the insulation of substrates from high temperature in gas turbine plants. The TBC system consists of ceramic top coating, metallic bond coating and substrate. Delamination of the ceramic coating is important problem in TBC systems. In this paper, the delamination mechanism was studied by residual stress history under thermal aging and thermal cycle conditions. In-plane residual stress histories of ceramic coating and bond coating after thermal aging and cycling were measured by X-ray diffraction method. The residual stress under thermal cycling was also calculated by FEM analysis. The results obtained were as follows: (1) in-plane surface residual stresses of the coatings scarcely changed regardless of the increase of thermally grown oxidation (TGO). (2) high compressive thermal stress, residual stress at room temperature, in ceramic coating induced by thermal stress did not occur. It was found that stress of ceramic top coating was relaxed by micro cracks and driving stress of delamination was in-plane high compressive stress.

Abstract: In this work, an experiment was performed to demonstrate the possibility of the metallurgical bonding in plasma-sprayed cast iron coatings at high substrate temperature. A quantitative analysis of splat cooling and rapid solidification of cast iron splat is then presented. The effect of the substrate temperature on the development of melt undercooling within the splat is investigated in detail. The results indicated that the initial substrate temperature has a profound effect on the development of melt undercooling in a splat, the splat bottom melt temperature, and the substrate surface temperature. A high initial temperature of the substrate restrains the cooling of the splat and leads to a high melt temperature that may promote the grain growth directly on cast iron substrate surface to form the metallurgical bonding.

Abstract: In this study, heat-acupuncture needle was coated with bioceramics by applying a plasma spray coating method to prevent a skin burn in the heat-acupuncture therapy. The effect of coating on the surface roughness of heat-acupuncture needle was investigated and the surface morphology was examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The effect of coating on the heat conduction of heat-acupuncture needle was also investigated. The results showed that the surface roughness of uncoated, Al2O3, and ZrO2 coated needle was 0.0675um, 8.568um, and 3.285um, respectively. The surface of ZrO2 coated needle was more uniform than that of Al2O3 coated needle. The results also showed that the heat conduction of heat-acupuncture needle was significantly affected by the bioceramic coating on the needle. Specifically, the maximum temperature of middle part of uncoated, Al2O3, and ZrO2 coated needle was 48°C, 38°C and 42°C, respectively.

Abstract: This paper describes the development of spherical iron-based composite powder with carried alumina abrasive grains made by a plasma spray technique. Carbonyl iron powder (7.2 μm average size) and alumina abrasive grains (0.3 μm average size) are sprayed into the plasma flame from the respective nozzles simultaneously, or their mechanical mixture is directly plasma-sprayed. In case of the composite powder obtained by the direct spray method, the alumina abrasives are well carried on the carbonyl iron particles. However, a plasma current of more than 100 A causes melting and vaporizing of the alumina abrasives;, consequently the carbonyl iron and alumina abrasives are separated. The magnetic abrasive experiments with the composite powder developed are made for SUS304 stainless steel plate, and the result shows that the developed composite powder has high potential abrasive performance.

Abstract: To develop novel and advanced thermal barrier coatings, full-scale numerical simulation of plasma-sprayed functionally gradient materials is conducted in this paper, including the prediction of basic parameters at the nozzle exit, simulation of three dimensional simulation of the plasma jet, modeling of the interaction between the plasma jet and the particles, calculation of flight trajectories and temperature history of flying metal and ceramic particles, the interaction between the molten particles and the substrate, as well as the deposition process of the coatings. Various complex phenomena, such as turbulent effects with chemical reactions in the plasma jet, dispersion status of the particles onto the substrate, and the composition distribution of the functionally gradient materials, are fully taken into account. The numerical simulation results are found to be in good agreement with experimental evidence.