Abstract
Plasma sprayed ceramic coatings have been widely applied in modifying surface properties of metal components. They are useful to prevent various types of wear, corrosion, erosion and thermal degradation, thereby extending components service life and reducing the need for expensive and repetitive maintenance. The durability and functionality of plasma sprayed ceramic coatings is critically dependent on the adhesion between the ceramic coating and the underlying substrate as well as the cohesion between splats. In this work, both nanostructured and conventional Al2O3 coatings were prepared by atmospheric plasma spraying technology (APS). For each feedstock, four kinds of coating samples deposited under different spraying parameters were designed, and moreover, seven groups of conventional coatings with different thickness were deposited under the same spraying parameters. Adhesion/cohesion of the plasma sprayed Al2O3 coating samples were evaluated by scratch testing. The results obtained reveal that the spraying parameters have strong influences on the microstructure of plasma sprayed Al2O3 coatings, which in turn influence their properties including deposition efficiency, porosity, microhardness as well as adhesion/cohesion.
