In this work, completely ceramic heating elements have been developed by the combination of conductive and insulating thermally sprayed oxide coatings. These heating elements with a total thickness of less than 1 mm have been directly applied on metallic substrates. APS- and HVOF-sprayed Al 2 O 3 and spinel (MgAl 2 O 4 ) coatings were employed for insulation. A comparative analysis of the insulating properties (dielectric strength, electrical resistivity) of these coatings is presented. The HVOF-sprayed spinel coatings show better dielectric breakdown strength and higher electrical resistance stability. TiO x , TiO 2 -10%Cr 2 O 3 and TiO 2 -20%Cr 2 O 3 powders have been used to prepare the electrical conductive coatings. The thermal and oxidation stabilities at high temperature, as well the electrical properties have been investigated. Addition of Cr 2 O 3 reduced the oxidation rate of titanium oxide and increased the operational temperature of the heating coating. A ceramic heater consisting of spinel coating as insulator and TiO 2 - 20Cr 2 O 3 as conductor was sprayed on a metallic roller and the electrical stability during the long-term (300h) thermo-cycling (from RT to 300°C) was successfully tested.

In this paper the characteristics (microstructure, phase compositions) and electrical insulating properties of thermally sprayed alumina coatings produced by suspension-HVOF (S-HVOF) process and conventional HVOF spray method are compared. The electrical resistance (electrical resistivity) and dielectric strength were investigated using DC-electrical resistance measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and dielectric breakdown test. The electrical resistance was determined at room temperature at different relative air humidity (RH) levels, from 6% RH up to 97% RH. Differences in the electrical insulating properties due to the different coating characteristics are discussed. The suspension-sprayed Al 2 O 3 coatings showed better electrical resistance stability at high humidity levels (> 75% RH), which could be explained by a specific microstructure and retention of a higher content of α-Al 2 O 3 . Nonetheless, the values of dielectric breakdown voltage and dielectric strength recorded for suspension sprayed coatings were lower than those of HVOF coatings.

The technique was examined to prevent errors during thermal spraying by setting up a spray on-line monitoring system (Spray Watch-2i System) at the starting position in the production line using plasma spraying, and monitoring the characteristics of the particles in the plasma flame between each spraying cycle. The tests were carried out with several spray conditions, changing the gas flow, and the arc current. The state of the plasma flame was measured as the velocity, temperature and flux density of the flying particles. The coating properties were then evaluated by measuring the dielectric breakdown test. It has been found that the evaluation result of the coating correlates very well with the monitoring results of the flame particle characteristics. Therefore there is a possibility that monitoring the state of the particle characteristics within the flame during spraying can control the coating characteristics comparatively easily.

Physical characteristics of Atmospheric Plasma Sprayed (APS) Alumina coating and Low Pressure Plasma Sprayed (VPS) Alumina coating were investigated. High purity Alumina powder was used for thermal spraying in this test. As electrical properties, the volume resistivity, dielectric constant, and the dielectric breakdown voltage were measured at R.T. to 873K. And the coefficient of thermal expansion, and the thermal conductivity were measured at also R.T. to 873K, as thermal properties. Mechanical properties, such as the Young’s modulus, the bending strength, and the cross-sectional hardness value were measured at R.T. As a test result, the Alumina coatings using both APS and VPS have similar properties except for the cross-sectional hardness value that was higher when sprayed by VPS.