High-velocity air fuel (HVAF) spraying was selected for spray trials of a Cr3C2-NiCr powder. To determine the effect of spray parameters on coating characteristics, particularly porosity and phase degradation, a statistical design of experiments was implemented. A wide range of statistical designs have been applied to the optimization of thermal spray coatings with a great deal of success. In this instance, a lack of prior knowledge and the need to assess many process-variable interactions efficiently led to the selection of a two-level full factorial design. High and low settings for each variable, including spray distance, traverse speed, and powder feedrate, were chosen based on the ranges typically used to spray similar materials. The resulting coatings were assessed for microhardness, porosity, residual stress, deposition efficiency, and phase transformation, after which several follow-up runs were conducted to explore trends brought to light by the initial factorial design.

Experimental designs have been used by the thermal spray community to improve and optimize spray parameters to produce coatings with desired properties. The influence of four spray parameters including top and bond coat thicknesses, substrate temperature, and spray distance on the mechanical properties of plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings has been examined. Two experimental matrices; (i) a four by nine according to a Taguchi experimental design, and (ii) a four by seventeen according to a full factorial design of the experiment, were developed. Six samples from each group were tested using a four point bend arrangement. Yield strength and elastic modulus were calculated from the four point bend test. A multi-linear regression analysis on yield strength and elastic modulus values from each experimental matrix was carried out to determine the influence of each spray parameter on these properties. The multi-linear regression analysis results for these two experimental matrixes are compared.