Abstract
More than 20 years the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Stuttgart has been active in the field of plasma spray technology with improvements of spray equipment and their application. At the beginning the DC vacuum plasma spray method was in the center of interest and knowledge gained from rocket technology helped to develop supersonic nozzles for the plasma spray torches producing plasma jets with increased velocity and improved laminarity in order to get denser coatings with higher quality. In the meantime also nozzles for subsonic conditions with controlled expansion of the plasma jet leading to considerably increased deposition efficiency were developed as compatible parts for already existing equipment and made available on the market. In the next step also the DC plasma torches themselves have been improved. Recently a modern equipment for RF plasma technology could be developed and installed, where some new ideas could be realised. Paper text in German.
