Abstract
The high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) gun represented a major development towards forming dense coatings. But, compared to the electric arc-spray process, the HVOF process is more difficult to apply and in general more costly. Therefore, some process development efforts have aimed at exploiting the attributes of both the electric arc-spray technique combined with those of the HVOF technique. Specifically, this hybrid process utilizes the electric arc spray benefits of using wire stock and high deposition rates combined with the higher coating densities obtained using HVOF. This paper presents an in-depth, in-flight particle characterization of a hybrid spray gun. A DPV-2000 particle diagnostics sensor was used to measure particle velocity, temperature, size and distribution. The influence of feed material, electric arc-spray parameters, and HVOF parameters on the particle characteristics is presented. It is observed that the velocity of the particles in the hybrid mode are slightly lower than the velocity of particles by HVOF alone but significantly higher than typical electric arc-spray velocities. In addition, the particle temperature in the hybrid mode isn’t significantly different than those by HVOF only. The particles produced by the hybrid gun tend to be more uniform and smaller compared to traditional electric arc-spray coatings.
