Abstract
Adhesion/cohesion testing represents one of the most common methods for benchmarking and optimization of thermal spray coatings. However, due to the inhomogeneous coating microstructure, such testing may be quite troublesome. In this study, adhesion/cohesion strength of representative metallic and ceramic coatings deposited by Water Stabilized Plasma (WSP) spraying was evaluated by different methods, namely Tensile Adhesion Test (TAT), newly utilized pin test and Tubular Coating Tensile (TCT) test. Combination of various methods enabled the evaluation of the splat bonding quality in different loading modes. Limitations and benefits of each method for testing of WSP coatings are demonstrated. Dominating failure micromechanisms were determined by supplementary fractographic analysis.