An amorphous Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) ceramic powder feedstock is successfully used to produce a novel YSZ ceramic coating by plasma spraying process, in this paper. Unlike conventional atmosphere plasma spray (APS) and solution precursor plasma spray (SPPS) YSZ coatings, the YSZ ceramic coating fabricated by plasma spraying amorphous YSZ ceramic powder feedstock reveals complex structure of cell and ultrafine particles instead of conventional splats and porous structure. A large number of ultrafine particles are found in the cell. Phase structure of the YSZ ceramic coating is tetragonal. Porosity is about 31%. In addition, thermal cycling test is nearly 370 cycles, and the thermal conductivity is 1.0 W.m-1.K-1, at 1250 temperature. Based on these excellent properties, the YSZ ceramic coating fabricated by plasma spraying amorphous YSZ ceramic powder feedstock should be used as high-temperature abradable sealing coatings and thermal barrier coatings (TBCs).

Air plasma spraying is a variation of thermal spraying that is used, among others, for the production of thermal barrier and wear resistant coatings. High plasma temperatures enable the processing of ceramic powder particles which have a high melting point and cannot be processed otherwise. Due to their low heat conductance, the ceramic particles are not necessarily fully melted during their flight in the free jet and prior to the impact on the substrate surface. Experimental particle temperature measurements by means of particle diagnostics systems deliver merely the surface temperature of the particles while the melting degree of the ceramic particles remains unknown. Therefore, the temperature field within spherical Al 2 O 3 particles is numerically investigated for a commonly used particle size distribution by considering different particle sizes. The model includes a two-way coupled particle-laden free jet model and takes the latent heat of melting and evaporation into account. The effect of the particles size as well as the stand-off distance on the melting degrees of the particles in the given powder size distribution is determined.

Cold gas spraying is a solid-state deposition process developed for metallic powders as feedstock materials. For ceramic materials; such low temperature-high velocity kinetic process is still questionable but could have interesting advantages. In the CERASOL project (ANR-19-CE08-0009); the nature and the architecture of porous ceramic powders involving agglomerated sub-micrometric grains are investigated. To that purpose; three oxide ceramics powders (alumina; zirconia and yttria) have been prepared for cold spray. These powders were analyzed in order to assess their architecture (composition; particle size; porosity; density; crystallite sizes…). Preliminary cold spray experiments were carried out implementing velocities measurements for various stand-off distances and spraying of coupons with line experiments. The characteristics of the deposited layers have been examined by SEM and XRD in order to discuss the role of the powder architecture on the impact behavior of the nanostructured agglomerated particles. The role of the gas stream that affects the kinetic and the trajectory of the particles are also discussed.

This paper examines the properties of thermal spray coatings produced by electrothermal explosion. Three refractory carbides (TaC, WC, and TiC) were sprayed onto metal substrates then analyzed using FESEM, EPMA, XRD, and microhardness testing. The new spray technique required the development of a special powder container to facilitate melting as well as the jetting process and mixing of deposit and substrate materials. Crystal structure and phase changes were also observed, which are attributed to decarburization.

Iron base composite coatings were deposited on mild steel substrates by arc spraying and cored wire with TiC ceramic powders. The abrasive wear resistance properties were examined on the MLS-225 wet sand/rubber wheel tester. The microstructure, phase compositions and worn surface morphologies of the coatings were observed by means of optical, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that composite coatings with TiC ceramic hard phases were reinforced by the TiC hard particles distributed in the iron-based coating. The average micro hardness of the coatings is about 1137 HV0.1. The coatings have the excellent abrasive wear resistance which is 6 times higher than that of the Q235 mild steel. Wear mechanisms of coatings was mainly micro-ploughing and brittle fracture.

Most of ductile metals can be deposited by cold spray (CS). For brittle ceramic, such solid-state deposition process is still questionable, but some recent work on Ti0 2 or hydroxyapatite powders have shown that micrometric ceramic powder could be deposited by CS. In this work, it is claimed that the nature and the porous architecture of a ceramic powder with agglomerated ultra-fine grains play an important role on the impact behaviour. The aim of this work is to investigate the deformation behaviour of ceramic agglomerated powders under high velocity impact. Two different powders, respectively 3YSZ and Y 2 O 3 , were selected in order to study their architectures (particle size, porosity, density, crystallite size, etc.). Cold spray “splats” experiments, with various spraying distances to vary the particles velocities upon impact, were carried out to observe the deformation and fragmentation. In case of Y 2 O 3 , cold spray with dynamic vacuum surrounding atmosphere up to 3kPa were also prepared to evaluate the role of the atmosphere on the resulting impact. In parallel, in situ SEM micro-compression tests at 10 −2 s −1 on cross-sectioned 3YSZ particles involving flat-punch nano-indentation and micropillar compression were performed. By modelling the compression tests, the aim is to identify a Drücker-Prager behaviour law suitable for an agglomerated ceramic powder under quasi-static compression. Such deformation behaviour could help to better understand the compaction behaviour of agglomerated powders.

A four inch external diameter copper reaction synthesis tube for attachment to an air plasma spray gun has been designed and constructed. This tube enables the entire hot plasma zone to be enclosed by flowing gas. The tube is water cooled, and enables control of the reaction/melting conditions for the materials that are injected into the plasma as dry powder, slurry or solutions. A supersonic nozzle is also incorporated into the design to promote powder production. Provision for capturing the reaction products in water is made and separation gives the final ceramic powders.

Ceramic deposition produced by cold spraying was studied for functional surface applications. Several oxide materials and metal matrix composite (MMC) powders were used to model the behavior of ceramic powder deposition on soft metallic substrate materials. The manufacturing method, density and size of ceramic powders and matrix material of MMC were found to affect the deposition on soft metal surfaces. The powder density influences the deposition greatly and it is also an important factor in finding an ideal powder particle size. Fusing and crushing the powder can be a good manufacturing method if the fusion does not cause phase transformations in the powder. In that case, spray drying with sintering can give better results. Spraying parameters, such as the process gas parameters and the effect of multiple sweeps of the torch were also studied to optimize the amount of deposition. Cold spraying was found to be a promising manufacturing method for functional surfaces.

The effect of nano and microstructured powders in cored wires on formation and properties of Fe-TiB 2 composite coatings by high velocity arc spraying (HVAS) was investigated. Six cored wires filled with different average ceramic particle sizes (20-40 nm, 2 µm, and 420 µm) and fine powder contents (0, 8, 16, 20, 24, 32wt.%) were sprayed. The flattening behavior of sprayed particles was characterized and compared by using optical microscopy (OM) and 3D Surface Profiler. The microstructure of the coatings and phase compositions were characterized by means of Laser Confocal Scan Microscopy, SEM, EDAX and XRD. Hardness and wear properties were evaluated. The results showed that the splat shape of the cermets has a transitional tendency to change from a distorted heavy splash to a disk with little splash with (i) increasing the percentage of fine ceramic particles and (ii) decreasing coatings porosity. Fe –2 µm 32% TiB 2 coatings reveals a dispersion of fine ceramic particles and less scattering of hardness, which improved the wear resistance and changed the abrasion mode.

A study is carried out of the spheroidization of ceramic and metallic powders using induction plasma technology. The process is based on the central injection of the powder in the plasma discharge followed by the in-flight cooling and solidification of the molten droplets prior to their collection at the bottom of a stainless-steel water cooled chamber. The degree of spheroidization is evaluated using image analysis. The results are correlated as a function of the powder feed rate, the plasma operating conditions and the thermophysical properties of the powders treated. The model's fit to the obtained experimental data is very good. The results show that the technology can be successfully used for the spheroidization and densification of a wide range of materials.

Recent research in the field of nanostructured ceramic materials has underscored the importance of using feedstock powders with metastable phases. During material consolidation the metastable structure evolves into a dual structure where the grain growth stops when the crystallites reach their respective equilibrium grain size. The mutual suppression of the grain growth is a direct consequence of the immiscibility of the two phases in the solid state. Due to their small grain size and uniform structure, the nanocomposites exhibiting very interesting properties, are formed. Metastable structures can be produced using atmospheric plasma spray (APS) technique. The main target of this work has been the synthesis of Al 2 O 3 -TiO 2 metastable powder through atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) and quenching route. The metastable phases have been produced from micron-sized feedstock powders and the effect of different raw powders have also been evaluated. The metastable phases have been characterised by XRD, SEM and FESEM analysis. The availability of producing nanostructured materials through these metastable phases have been studied. The phase and morphology evolution from this metastable phases to nanostructures has been observed.

Aluminum oxide ceramic coatings are widely used to extend the life of machine components. These protective layers are usually applied via atmospheric plasma spraying. In this study, alumina coatings are produced using a low-power plasma spraying method and assessed based on hardness, porosity, and microstructure. Test results show that alumina coatings applied using low-power plasma spraying with internal injection are harder than those produced using traditional APS techniques. The effect of process parameters, including current, voltage, powder feed rate, and plasma energy, is also investigated. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

The low-pressure cold spray (LPCS) technique could be an attractive method for copper metallization of ceramic substrates to power module applications due to its one-step quick and low-temperature process. However, manufacturing pure copper coating on a ceramic substrate by LPCS is still challenging due to its low deposition efficiency and poor adhesion strength. Our previous study successfully demonstrated the possibility of obtaining a zirconia substrate's metallization by using a feedstock powder mixture of copper and aluminum. However, the copper content in the coating was not high enough for power module applications. Therefore, in this study, we aim to improve the copper content in the coating layer composed of the composite powder deposited by LPCS on alumina and zirconia substrates. The influence of the gas pressure and standoff distance on the copper content and coating thickness are evaluated. The coating build-up with a high copper content and thickness is highly dependent on the kinetic energy of particles, enhanced by high gas pressure and short stand-off distance.

A new family of spherical powders produced by the spray drying route has been developed. This paper describes as an example the manufacturing method of an Y2O3-coated aluminum powder. Atmospheric Plasma Spraying (APS) was used to test the corresponding coatings. Morphology and phases of powders and coatings were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy while the level of porosity was evaluated using image analysis. Results show that homogenous composite coatings can be obtained from cladded spray dried powders.

In order to increase the efficiency of heavy duty gas turbines for power generation and to reduce their emissions, higher combustion chamber temperature is required; a considerable improvement of the insulation properties of the thermal barrier coatings is therefore required. 1.5 mm thick thermal barrier coatings have been deposited by air plasma spraying a mixed polyester-zirconia powder; by this process high porosity, up to 22%, has been achieved together with a good deposition efficiency (about 50%); the coating microstructure has been thoroughly examined by quantitative image analysis, determining the pores size distribution and the vertical segmentation cracks density. Thermal shock tests showed a life improvement with respect to the state-of-art by a factor > 100; relationships among thermal shock life, deposition rate, segmentation cracks density and porosity were determined. Thermal expansion and thermal diffusivity were measured up to 1200 °C; failure strength, failure strain and Young's modulus were determined by a four-point bending technique.

Ceramic coating is a very important technique used to develop structures that resist wear, corrosion, or oxidation. In this study, the Powder Jet Deposition (PJD) technique is used to form ceramic coatings on structures. The PJD technique is similar to the cold spray technique, but it can be used to coat ceramic layers under room temperature and atmospheric conditions. Therefore, PJD was used for the creation and on-site repair of ceramic coatings on large, complicated structures. The aim of this study is to optimize the spray conditions for an aluminum titanate (TiAl 2 O 5 ) coating on various substrates using the PJD technique and to evaluate the mechanism of ceramic deposition. In the case of the cold spray technique, a high particle velocity is essential to cause the large-scale plastic deformation of particles that is necessary for deposition. However, while using PJD on ceramic oxides, lower particle velocity proved to be a better deposition condition. The optimized spraying pressure, resulting in the thickest coating, was approximately 0.05 MPa. The particle velocity as measured using a high-speed camera was approximately 90m/s. Therefore with PJD, it is optimal to use a low velocity within a narrow range to form a ceramic coating.

The effect of powder injecting location of the plasma spraying on spraying properties was studied. Three different powder injecting methods were applied in the experiment. In the first method, the particles were axially injected into the plasma flow from the cathode tip. In the second method, the particles were radially injected into the plasma flow just downstream of the anode arc root inside the anode nozzle. In the third method, the particles were radially injected into the plasma jet at the nozzle exit. The alumina particles with a mean diameter of 20µm were used to deposit coatings. Spraying properties such as the deposition efficiency, the melting rate of the powder particles, and the coating quality were investigated. The results show that the spraying with axial particle injecting can heat and melt the powder particles more effectively, produce coatings with better quality, and have higher deposition efficiency.

Vacuum cold spray is a promising method to deposit nanocrystalline ceramic coating. The effective control of porous structure within nanostructured coating is essentially important to enhance the performance of the mesoporous nanocrystalline coatings for applications to catalyst and photo-electrode. In this study, the ceramic-polymer composite powders were employed as spray feedstocks for vacuum cold spray to control the pore structure in the deposits. The ceramic-polymer composite powders were made from nano-sized TiO 2 (25nm), ZrO 2 (30nm) and Al 2 O 3 (30nm) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The surface morphologies and the cross-sectional microstructures of the coatings were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The pore size distribution was measured using a nitrogen adsorption approach. The results showed that the deposition during spraying was implemented through the composite particles in a size ranging from submicrometers to several micrometers. Through post-spray heat treatment of the deposit, the PEG can be completely removed to increase the porosity in the deposit. The pores exhibited a bimodal distribution. The small pores present the size from several nanometers to tens of nanometers. Moreover, the size of large pores is in micrometer scale. The porosity and pore size distribution can be controlled by the composition of the composite powder.

Cold Spraying, as a novel Thermal Spraying Technology can deposit a wide range of ductile materials on different substrates; a problem arises when the objective is to use this technology to deposit brittle materials such as ceramics in applications where melting must be avoided. One example is when spraying Bio-Ceramics, in which particle´s melting often leads to changes in physical and chemical properties and subsequently resulting in unknown variations in the coating´s biocompatibility. While Non-Ductile Materials can only be deposited if they are co-cold-sprayed with a ductile (matrix) material a Metal-Ceramic Powder Composite must be used for these objectives. The goal of this paper is to show a transient Non-Linear Dynamics Computational Analysis of a Metal- Ceramic Powders Composite impacting a metallic substrate by the means of Cold Spraying Technology; all this in order to understand the formation of cold sprayed composite coatings while comparing them with experimental results and using ANSYS-AUTODYN© to assess the suitability of this spraying technology for coating special application substrates.

Aluminum nitride (AlN) and iron nitride (Fe 4 N) coatings were fabricated by reactive plasma spraying using fine feedstock powders. Reactive plasma spraying, in which element particles react with surrounding active species in the plasma, enables to fabricate nitride ceramics which decompose without stable melting phase. However, it is difficult to fabricate the coatings which include higher concentration of nitride phase by reactive plasma spraying using conventional particle size of feedstock powders. Therefore, fine feedstock powders were used in order to enhance the nitriding reaction during spraying. Aluminum or iron particles were injected into Ar/N 2 plasma and were deposited onto graphite substrates. It was possible not only to increase the nitride phase content in the coatings but also to densify the microstructure in both materials. Thus, it became clear that using fine feedstock powders are useful for fabrication of nitride ceramic coatings by reactive plasma spraying.