One of the economical and fast solutions for failure against erosive wear in oil and gas industries is the deposition of cermets using HVOF thermal spray. Recently, especially with the new development of bimodal feedstock powders, the composition percentages of the mixed powders have played a key factor in the final coating performance. In the present study, a design of experiment (DOE) software was implemented to study the influence of different powder percentages on the coating performance. The coating mechanical properties and its performance were investigated via dry solid particle erosion tests, hardness measurement and SEM respectively. The results showed that both the hardness and erosion resistance of the coating increases as the composition percentage of the nanostructured WC-12Co increased due to the strong adhesion of WC nano size grains at the substrate/coating interface as a result of improved mechanical interlocking.

Bioactive coatings are proven to enhance bone regeneration, implant integration and act as drug-delivery systems following bone replacement surgeries. Polycaprolactone (PCL) was used in this study as coating material due to its superior biocompatibility and biodegradability. Polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) was used as an additive in order to improve the flowability of the PCL powder. The processing technique used to obtain polymeric coatings was oxy-acetylene flame spraying. Seeing that biodegradable polymers were not thoroughly investigated in the past, a Design of Experiments (DoE) analysis was necessary in order to understand the effects of spraying parameters on coating characteristics (thickness, roughness, adhesion, wettability) and to be able to optimize the coating properties for specific requirements. The polymer matrix was sprayed onto titanium substrates. The statistical analysis was followed by FTIR spectroscopy, which showed that the coatings underwent little chemical degradation. Finally, biocompatibility tests showed that cells proliferated well on the flame sprayed polymer coatings, which confirms that the coating technique used did not affect the biological performance of the material.

This research aims at introducing new biodegradable/non-biodegradable materials (biopolymers) to the existing Hydroxyapatite (HA)-titanium combination or as a single coating in order to overcome some of the limitations of HA coatings. Biopolymers can act as drug carriers for a localised drug release following implantation; they can also have a structural role by improving the mechanical performance of implants at the bone –implant interface. The proposed materials consisted of biodegradable and non-biodegradable polymers widely used as drug delivery systems: polymethylmethacrylate and polyhydroxybutyrate 98%/ polyhydroxyvalerate 2%. The method used to apply the polymeric powders was oxygen/acetylene flame spraying, due to its superior mechanical advantages over other techniques. Screening tests were used to determine the suitable range of spraying parameters, followed by optimisation to understand of the effects of spraying parameters on coating characteristics (thickness, roughness, adhesion, wettability), in order to obtain an optimal coating design. The polymers were sprayed onto bare titanium substrates. FTIR results showed that the coatings underwent little chemical degradation. Biocompatibility tests showed that cells proliferated well on flame sprayed polymer coatings, which confirms that the coating technique used did not affect the biological performance of the material.

HVOF has the potential to produce Hydroxyapatite HA (Bio-ceramic) coatings based on its experience with other sprayed ceramic materials. This technique should offer mechanical and biological results comparable to other thermal spraying processes such as plasma spray currently FDA approved for HA deposition. Deposition of HA via HVOF is a new venture especially using the Sulzer Metco Diamond Jet (DJ) process, hence the aim of this paper. In this research, a Design of Experiment (DOE) model as developed to optimize the HVOF process for the deposition of HA. Five parameters (factors) were researched over two levels namely: oxygen flow rate, propylene flow rate, air flow rate, spray distance and powder flow rate. Coating crystallinity and purity were measured as the responses to the factors used. The research showed that: propylene, air flow rate, spray distance and powder feed rate had the largest effect on the responses and the study aimed to find the desired optimised settings. This research found crystallinity and purity values of 93.8% and 99.8% respectively for a set of HVOF parameters which were improved findings compared to the crystallinity and purity of 87.6 % and 99.4 % respectively found using the FDA approved Plasma thermal spray process. Hence a new technique for HA deposition now exists using the DJ HVOF facility. Future research aims to evaluate the biological response to these coatings through in vitro tests.

Due to the nature of the HVOF and other thermal spray processes, residual stress build up in thick deposits is a significant and limiting problem. The residual stress-state that evolves in a deposit is largely dependent on the thermal conditions to which the system has been subjected, and is a combination of quenching stresses, which arise during deposition, and cooling stresses, post-deposition. It follows that precise control of these phenomena is essential, if a thick deposit or one with low levels of residual stress are to be thermally sprayed. This paper applies looks at analytical and finite element techniques used to predict quenching and cooling stresses within tungsten carbide-cobalt thermally sprayed deposits. The analysis investigates and predicts the quenching and cooling stresses using improved analytical and FEA techniques by validating the models with experimental results such as X-Ray Diffraction and the Hole Drilling Method. The result of this paper is a thermo-mechanical equation for quenching stress which includes the effects of misfit strain, the Poisson’s effect, variation of coating and substrate thicknesses, thermal expansion and process temperature effects.

The application of FGMs is quite difficult, but thermal spray processes like Plasma spray have demonstrated their unique potential in producing graded deposits, where researchers have used twin powder feed systems to mix different proportions of powders. FGMs vary in composition and/or microstructure from one boundary (substrate) to another (top service surface), and innovative characteristics result from the gradient from metals to ceramics or non-metallic to metals. The present study investigates an innovative modification of a HVOF (High Velocity Oxy- Fuel) thermal spray process to produce functionally graded thick coatings. In order to deposit thick coatings, certain problems have to be overcome. Graded coatings enable gradual variation of the coating composition and/or microstructure, which offers the possibility of reducing residual stress build-up with in coatings. In order to spray such a coating, modification to a commercial powder feed hopper was required to enable it to deposit two powders simultaneously which allows deposition of different layers of coating with changing chemical compositions, without interruption to the spraying process. Various concepts for this modification were identified and one design was selected, having been validated through use of a process model, developed using ANSYS Flotran Finite Element Analysis. In the current research the mixing of different proportions of powders were controlled by a computer using LabVIEW software and hardware, which allowed the control and repeatability of the microstructure when producing functionally graded coatings.

The crystallinity of hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings used in femoral implant applications is a crucial factor. A coating containing a large percentage of amorphous phases will dissolve quickly. This leaves the coating mechanical weak and thus reduces its functional life. The crystallinity of the final coating largely depends on the parameters selected during the spraying process. In this study the design of experiment technique was used to investigate the parameters that have the greatest effect on the crystallinity of the coating. The effect of furnace heat treatment in air at 600°C, 700°C and 800°C on the crystallinity of the coating was also investigated. The coatings were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

Due to the recent advances in thermal spraying technology, considerable research emphasis has been placed on the development of models capable of predicting deposition mechanisms at various stages during the process. In order to gain a deeper knowledge of the mechanisms involved in thermal spraying, it is necessary to isolate the factors affecting these constitutive properties (for example residual stress generation) and in doing so quantify the effect of the individual factors. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used in the present research to predict the residual stress generated in a WC-Co deposit produced via the HVOF process. The model is compared to an analytical technique and validated experimentally, the result of which provides a thermomechanical modelling procedure with an accuracy greater than 80% of that found experimentally. Combining FEA techniques with analytical and experimental results will enhance the understanding of residual stress in thermal spray techniques.

This paper presents a study of the residual stress and microstructural properties of thick, spray-formed components, produced using the High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying process. The forming material used is Tungsten carbide cobalt (WC-Co), a material which is more usually processed using expensive press and sinter technology. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of production parameters on the formation of thick components. In order to fabricate thick specimens, certain problems have to be overcome. More specifically these problems include the minimizing residual stresses, which cause shape distortion in the components and maining the integrity of the coating on a microstructural scale. The dependence of residual stress, and sprayed material characteristics on spraying distance, and powder feed rate conditions is presented. Results show that cylindrical WC-Co components up to a thickness of 9mm can successfully be produced, by careful control of these parameters. This represents a significant improvement on maximum thickness values previously reported for WC-Co [1,2].