This paper presents a life cycle assessment comparison of electroplating and various thermal spray processes for the formation of nickel coatings. The comparison was carried out using a peer-reviewed database of upstream materials and energy and commercial LCA software. Material and energy use and the corresponding emissions of each coating process were converted to impact scores by means of the Eco-Indicator-99 method.

This paper provides best practices along with a detailed example of how to effectively meet thermal spray training needs. It discusses the importance of giving students hands-on experience with real equipment and the many and varied problems they are likely to encounter with its use. It also discusses the value of allowing students to learn by exposing them to improper techniques, flawed approaches, and incorrect equipment repairs.

In the thermal spraying technology a lot of things have been and still are happening in education and training of personnel and in quality management. The QM-system that was established by the GTS e.V.– the Association of Thermal Sprayers – was pioneer and does an excellent job concerning its requirements. These GTS QM-requirements are meanwhile completed by newly created and internationally accepted EWF-education and training guidelines of supervising personnel and thermal spray workers. These guidelines involve also the new ISO standards of the Thermal Spraying Coordinator and the Approval Testing of Thermal Sprayers. Meanwhile the ETS (European Thermal Sprayer) and the ETSS (European Thermal Spraying Specialist) education and training courses are very much in demand. For the QM-System the standard ISO 14922 Part 2-4 (Quality requirements of thermally sprayed structures) is established, which includes the standard ISO 14918 (Approval Testing of Thermal Sprayers). Here, different destructive testing procedures are required depending on the spray process, which provide useful statements concerning the quality of sprayed coatings. With the GTS-Certification, the EWF-Qualifications and the ISO Standards a System is installed, which meets the increased Demands of Trade and Industry for High Quality Sprayed Coatings.

In the thermal spray business quality assurance reports from a high end system usually contain only the values of the thermal spray process. But what about handling system values like spray distance and surface velocity. The paper shows the possibilities that are available today on a MultiCoat Vision thermal spray installation and focuses on a quality assurance report that includes the values of the entire system, as well as, the details from the sprayed workpiece.

Various methods of calculating coating costs and process performance have been used throughout the development of thermal spray processes; each tending to be unique to each process or coating method. Comparison of the effective performance of each process, in relation to each other, is hampered and difficult to compare on an equal basis. A more generic and global method is presented, based on deriving a unified process efficiency formula that takes into account all energy inputs and energy outputs of a process in the same energy units. Applying the coating process specifics such as deposit efficiency can then be used to determine a unitized process cost in terms of energy required and subsequently coating cost. This method permits direct comparison of process efficiency for each process and specific coating conditions, promoting the advancement of more efficient and controlled thermal spray processes. Example of the results are the surprisingly low process efficiencies, less than 5%, for processes that use higher energy levels, and the highest efficiency recorded by arc wire at nearly 30%.

In design, construction and use of thermal spray equipment, very often several companies or persons are involved. Then, in the most cases it isn't clear who is the responsible body for the safe use of the machines. Is it the manufacturer or the user? Is the worker liable for incidents or is the employer in charge. This paper will show some reasonable solutions for these questions with a view to the related legal aspects. It explains, especially when there are several suppliers involved for one integrated system, why the responsibility for health and safety aspects have to be defined before the equipment is put into operation.

Globalisation is moving business’s emphasis away from basic technologies towards “information and knowledge”. Indeed, knowledge based processes and products have become a new paradigm. As such, the management (control and retrieval) and use of data has become a central activity both for companies themselves and, increasingly, within wider supply chains. Adding “value” to data and creating “knowledge” will be a key element of future business growth. Handling and, more importantly, exploiting the current explosion of electronic information represents a real challenge to companies. However, the emergence of new, semantic tools which can “intelligently” interrogate and manipulate data could turn a potential problem into an opportunity.