Anode erosion in plasma spray torches results in coating deterioration. The usable life of a torch anode is strongly dependent on the fluid dynamic behavior of the plasma inside the torch, which in turn depends on the geometric design of the anode and the operating parameters. In order to study the relative importance of these effects, cold flow investigations have been performed with a torch having a glass anode with the same geometric dimensions as a Praxair-TAFA SG 100 torch. The density differences between the arc and the cold gas were simulated by injecting heated helium from the tip of the cathode into the cold argon gas flow from the regular gas injector. Flow visualization was achieved by seeding the flow with micron-sized particles. A finite element CFD code was used to simulate the cold flow structure. The results were compared with erosion patterns observed with an actual plasma torch. The results indicate that recirculation eddies inside the torch will force a preferred anode attachment which is different for different gas injectors. Minimization of such recirculation regions by appropriate fluid dynamic design will result in more random attachment of the arc and prolonged anode life.

Spattering is an unavoidable phenomenon in the selective laser melting (SLM) process, which can cause various printing defects and harmful powder recycling. Since the size of powder spattering is too small at the micron level, it is difficult to investigate the entire dynamic spattering process experimentally. The comprehensive understanding of the intricate dynamics of powder spattering during the SLM process remains incomplete. Therefore, we develop a new multiphase flow model to study the transient dynamic behaviors of the gas phase and powder spattering, which agrees well with the experimental observation result. It is the first time that the whole transient dynamic process of powder motion from starting to move induced by the vapor jet to falling to the substrate wall and stopping completely was observed. Powder spattering motion dynamics induced by metal vapor jet and argon gas flow, as a function of time, laser parameters, and location, are presented. The moving speed, total amount, and dropping distribution on the substrate of powder spattering that varies with laser parameters are quantified.

The effect of argon carrier gas flow, ethanol- or water injection on the plasma-composition, -enthalpy and – temperature as well as on the entrainment from the ambient was investigated in comparison to the pure plasma condition of an Ar-H 2 -plasma. Additionally, the plasma gas flow rate and power levels were varied. The enthalpy, and thus the plasma temperature, as well as the composition and speed are determined by means of an enthalpy probe system. Spatial resolved data could be obtained by translating the torch via a robot so that a temperature and speed map shows the evolution of plasma features with increasing stand-off distance.

The plasma torch is one of the most important equipment during air plasma spraying, is used to produce the plasma arc in the nozzle for the acceleration and heating of particles. The voltage-current characteristic of the plasma arc is very important to the fusion of particles. The volt-ampere characteristic is affected by many factors, such as gas species, gas flow rate, nozzle geometry and the type of gas injection. So the factors influencing the voltage-current characteristics in high velocity plasma spraying were studied. As the results showed, the arc voltage is increased with the increase of the primary gas flow rate in some range. The secondary gas flow rate has an important effect on the electric arc voltage. The influence of nitrogen on the arc voltage is more than argon when they are chose as the primary gas in plasma spraying. The arc voltage is decreased with the increase of the nozzle’s compression angle and the decrease of the nozzle’s aperture, when the length of the nozzle is unvarying.

The influence of spray parameters on particle with the improved plasma gun was studied by using SpryWatch-2i System. The results show that the particle velocity increases and exceeds the velocity of sound when using a new designed nozzle (C2 nozzle) during the plasma spraying. Under a certain condition, the particle velocity varies as the spray distance rise firstly, decline then, as the primary gas pressure increases, the particle velocity increases, the particle temperature drops firstly then increase, the velocity increase a little. But as the steadily increase of the flow rate, the influence on the particle temperature drops, the influence of arc voltage on particle velocity and temperature is slightly. Arc current influent little on particle temperature, but the particle velocity increase in a range.

In this paper, a low-power plasma spraying system is used to deposit layers of tungsten carbide on carbon steel substrates. Numerous coating samples were produced and examined in order to determine how plasma gas composition, voltage, current, and other parameters affect the hardness and porosity of WC coatings and how injected particles interact with nozzle surfaces. Test results indicate that there is a tendency for less particle adherence to the nozzle at higher voltages, lower currents, and certain plasma gas compositions. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

In a DC plasma spray torch, the dynamic behaviour of the arc attachment at the anode nozzle results in fluctuations of arc voltage and the resulting plasma jet instabilities affect the treatment of the particles injected in the plasma flow, and thus, the coating quality. However it is not clear if the experimentally-observed fluctuations of particle temperatures are a major phenomena and if their frequencies are always in unison with those of voltage. In this study, two on-line techniques are used to investigate respectively the time-variation of particle temperatures and their correlations with voltage variations; the first technique makes it possible to analyse plasma voltage instabilities and the second one to investigate the instabilities of particle temperatures. Both allow determining the frequencies and amplitude variations of voltage and particle temperatures. The experiments are carried out with two plasma torches (F4-type and 3MB-type) using respectively argon-hydrogen or nitrogen–hydrogen mixtures as plasma-forming gases. A good correlation between arc voltage and particle temperature fluctuations is observed when the plasma torch is operating with argon-hydrogen while that's not the case when the torch is operating with nitrogen-hydrogen.

Pre-alloyed and plasma spheroidized composite powders were used as the feed-stock in the plasma spraying of functionally graded ZrO 2 /NiCoCrAlY coatings. The ball milling parameters of the composite powders and the plasma spraying parameters for preparing FGM coatings were optimized in order to obtain the best performance for the thermal barrier coatings. Microstructure, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of ZrO 2 /NiCoCrAlY FGM coatings were investigated and compared with those of traditional duplex coatings. Results showed that the advantages of using prealloyed composite powders in plasma spraying were to ensure chemical homogeneity and promote uniform density along the graded layers. Microstructure observation showed the gradient distribution of ZrO 2 and NiCoCrAlY phases in the coating and no clear interface was found between two adjacent different layers. Oxidation of elements in Ni alloy occurred during plasma spray and the so-formed Al 2 O 3 and Cr 2 O 3 combined with ZrO 2 in a wide range of proportions. The bond strength of FGM coatings was about twice than that of the duplex coatings. Results also indicate that the thermal cycling resistance of FGM coating was much better than that of the duplex coating.

In this investigation, Inconel 718, a material known to cause nozzle clogging upon cold spraying, was cold spray formed to 6 mm-thick using the Plasma Giken cold spray system PCS- 1000. This was made possible due to the novel non-clogging nozzle material combined with a nozzle water cooling system. Coatings were as-spray formed using both nitrogen and helium as the propelling gasses. The resulting microstructures as well as the corresponding mechanical properties were studied. In addition, the effect of post-heat treatments was also investigated. It was found that for a given propelling gas used, the coating porosity level remained relatively similar (about 2.4% for nitrogen and 3.6% for helium) regardless of the coating treatment (as-sprayed or heat treated). Visual inspection from SEM micrographs showed a higher fraction of inter-particle metallurgical bonds for nitrogen gas sprayed coatings heat treated at 1250°C for 1 hour due to some sintering effect. This significantly affected its tensile properties with an average resulting ductility of 24.7%.

In this work, tunnel plasma spraying is used to produce Cu 36 Zr 48 Al 8 Ag 8 metallic glass coatings on stainless steel. The results show that cooling gas flow rates play a vital role in oxidation and the formation of intermetallic phases in coating microstructures. Phase formation and microstructural features were evaluated by XRD and SEM-EDX analysis. Coating properties including hardness, sliding wear, and corrosion resistance were measured and the results are compared with the presence of secondary phases. It is shown that an increase in secondary phases improves sliding wear resistance but reduces resistance to corrosion.

Three YSZ powders with different particle size distributions and an ethanol-based YSZ suspension were deposited on steel substrates using a cascaded plasma torch with a 9 mm nozzle. Coatings with dense, porous, segmented, and columnar microstructures were achieved by varying process parameters such as gun current, argon flow rate, spray distance, and suspension injection pressure. Linear relationships between in-flight particle state and process variables were observed and are shown to correlate well with coating structure and porosity.

In this study, a wide range of suspension plasma spraying conditions are used to produce YSZ coatings for intended use in liquid gas engines. To meet specifications, the coatings must exhibit a homogeneous microstructure with no vertical cracks or columns, low surface roughness, and low thermal conductivity. The properties of the plasma jet (velocity, enthalpy, stability), droplets (trajectory, number, size), and particles (velocity) were measured during spray trials and are correlated with coating microstructure. Suspension plasma spraying conditions necessary for depositing disk-shaped splats and achieving finely structured coatings with no stacking defects are described along with substrate cooling requirements.

A special bi-anode plasma torch has been developed for elongating the arc length and obtaining the arc with a fixed length. The relations between the arc voltage and the arc current were investigated for different gas compositions, and the effect of the gas flow rate on the arc voltage was also studied for the pure Ar plasma. The results show that for the pure Ar plasma, the arc voltage had a dropping characteristic for an arc with instable length and a rising characteristic arc voltage for an arc with fixed length, but for Ar-H 2 plasma or Ar-N 2 plasma, the arc voltage always had dropping characteristic. Increasing the gas flow rate will enhance the arc voltage both for an instable and fixed length arc.

This research systematically examines the effect of heat treatment on the microstructural properties of cold sprayed titanium coatings. Heat treatments were performed on as-sprayed coatings at 200, 400, 600, and 800°C for four hours under argon atmosphere. Vickers microhardness, microstructural investigation using FEG-SEM, structural characterization using XRD, and porosity evaluation using SEM image analysis were performed on as-sprayed and heat treated coatings. Results demonstrated that static recovery and static recrystallization may have occurred for heat treated coatings at 600 and 800°C. In addition, for the heat treated coating at 800°C, significant oxidation occurred and a slight decrease in porosity took place. Furthermore, a thin metallic layer characteristic of a solid solution or an intermetallic compound, was found at the coating/substrate interface.

It is well known that legacy one-cathode/anode thermal spray guns are sensitive to aging. One reason is the large power density in particular at the arc roots on the cathode tip and the anode wall. Anode wear was studied in showing that it leads to a thinner boundary layer and a reduced motion of the arc root, which increases the local thermal load. This also results in a voltage drop, and thus in power level reduction if the power source is operated in a constant current mode. In this case, it is widely practiced to increase the secondary plasma gas flow, which, however, can only be of some help.

The aim of this paper is the optimization of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) particle injection in a supersonic induction plasma torch to improve the reproducibility of this plasma deposition process. Indeed, the optimization is necessary to eradicate clogging in the supersonic nozzle due to the constriction of the nozzle. Investigations of the relationships between the parameters of particle’injection and the in-flight properties of the particles are carried out using an ANOVA experiment design. The in-flight particle properties were determined using two commercial systems, the DPV 2000 associated with the CPS 2000 (temperature, velocity and diameter of in-flight cold particles) and the Control Vision system (divergence of plasma jet imagery). First results have shown the necessity of a new design of the injection probe; development that allowed to reach a good reproducibility in terms of particle velocity and molten state.

This article attempts to predict the temperature, state and velocity of Tribaloy 800 particles by means of numerical modeling. It aims to identify parameters that have a significant influence on the inflight particle characteristics for Argon/Hydrogen plasma sprayed Tribaloy 800, and to compare predicted air entrainment and particle residence times between Argon/Hydrogen and Argon/Helium plasma gas mixtures. The effect of spray parameters (primary-, secondary- carrier gas mass flows, current, spray distance and nozzle diameter) on the particle in-flight characteristics (velocity and temperature) and their interactions are studied by a two level fractional factorial experiment applied on the simulations. A comparison between argon Argon/Hydrogen and Argon/helium plasm gas mixtures is made in order to investigate whether the coating oxidation level can be reduced using Argon/Helium. Finally, the correlation between the modeled parameters and the application microstructure is studied. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

The present paper examines a hybrid DC arc thermal plasma torch with gas-water stabilisation and its application for thermal spraying. The torch was worked out based on the water-stabilised plasma torch WSP, main features of which are high temperature of the generated plasma and high powder through-put. In the hybrid torch the cathode part is modified in the way like in gas torches, which not only provides proper stabilisation of the arc in this region and cathode protection from contact with stabilising water but also allows to vary properties of the generated plasma. Change of the secondary gas flow rate, which is usually argon, results in strong changes of the plasma gas density, while the energy balance of the torch remains almost unchanged. This in turn leads to modification of the plasma jet properties. The paper describes effect of the plasma torch parameters on behaviour of the generated plasma jet and injected powder particles. The results show how particle velocities follow changes of the plasma jet properties according to the plasma torch operation parameters. Both increase of arc current and argon flow rate provided increase of particle velocities.

With the goal to improve the plasma spraying technique a considerable number of plasma gun types using different physical principles have been developed in the past. In this paper for conventional DC discharge plasma torches widely used in industry, some aspects of operation as arc fluctuations and non-symmetric plasma jets are discussed. Different construction principles with single or multiple electrodes as well as with one-piece or cascaded nozzles are compared. Finally a new torch concept is presented.

An important aspect of the APS plasma spray process is the turbulent mixing of the spray jet with the surrounding air. The air mixing into the jet causes undesirable oxidation of the sprayed coating. In this work the air mixing in the plasma jet was determined by direct measurement of the oxygen content. The measuring method is based on electrochemical determination of the oxygen potential using a solid electrolyte cell. The partial pressure of oxygen along the centreline of the plasma jet was measured with the hydrogen/argon and helium/argon ratio, the gas flow rate and the stand-off distance as experimental parameters. The oxygen content of the plasma tail flame was found to vary between 13.6 to 19.3 % depending on the hydrogen to argon ratio and the stand-off distance. Such high oxygen contents are far too high to avoid serious oxidation of metal coatings. The plasma spraying tests were carried out with WC-Co 17 coating powder. The plasma gases were Ar/H 2 and Ar/He. The respective oxygen contents by air mixing were measured to be 18.9 and 17.3 %. The WC-Co was observed to be decarburised more in the Ar/H 2 mixture than in the Ar/He mixture, which was attributed to the higher oxygen concentration, higher particle temperature and longer flight time in the plasma jet. Solid electrolyte cell technique was applied to this type of measurements and it proved to be a convenient way to determine the oxygen mixing in the plasma jet.