Abstract
Producing nanostructured materials through metastable phases is an interesting novel route in the field of ceramic materials. Due to their small grain size and uniform structure, these nanostructured bulk materials exhibit very interesting properties. Metastable coatings can be produced starting from microstructured powders through atmospheric plasma spray (APS) technique, followed by a quenching route. The initial powders are melted during the spraying and deposited over a substrate that is quenched with liquid nitrogen (LIN) feeders, producing metastable coatings. The thermal sprayed coatings have been characterized using XRD, SEM, FESEM and EDS in the Thermal Spray Centre (CPT) of the University of Barcelona. The properties of such coatings have been also studied obtaining promising results.
