Abstract
The thermal spray application of inert gas atomised iron based powders for combined wear and corrosion protection prospectively offers important economical advantages compared to the well-established cermet coatings due to their lower price. Recent studies revealed basic knowledge about the thermal spray processing of these materials. For protecting the substrate from corrosive media, coatings have to be dense and impermeable to fluids. Especially poor bonding, occurring between partially melted or unmelted spray particles, leads to open porosity. Hence a certain degree of melting of particles is required. The GTV K2 spray gun allows the use of different nozzles to vary process temperature and velocity in a wide range. This paper shows the influence of applicated nozzles and process conditions on coating characteristics. Powder and coating characterisation is carried out by means of optical microscopy, digital image analysis, SEM and XRD. Additionally, some results regarding microhardness and wear behaviour are given.
