According to a recent survey, the thermal spray market in Japan is approximately 100 billion yen. The market consists of three sectors, coating services (45 billion yen), in-house production (45 billion yen), and sales of thermal spray equipment and consumables (10 billion yen). This paper provides an overview of the coating services market broken out by application segments. It also discusses future trends.

This paper provides a summary of the status and potential of thermal spray activities in Korea. It describes how various market sectors in Korea are using spray coating technology and presents annual sales estimates and share of market data broken out by industry, spraying technology, and patents awarded. It also reviews recent advancements in the development and use of thermal spray technology in Korea along with anticipated future impacts.

Atmospheric plasma spraying is a cost effective way to produce SOFC components. Doing so, sinter steps can be avoided, which is essential once a metallic support is used for the SOFC. Several properties are required regarding the micro structure of an optimized anode layer. Here gas permeability, electrochemistry, electronic conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion as well as thermal shock resistance has to be considered. Different types of powder feedstock were investigated to develop an atmospheric plasma sprayed anode layer: (i) NiO or Ni together with YSZ as starting materials, (ii) agglomerates in which NiO and YSZ are already mixed on a sub-micrometer range, (iii) blended NiO/YSZ powder, (iv) separate injection of the individual NiO and YSZ powders, respectively into the plasma by two separate powder lines. The performance of APS anodes are measured in single fuel cell tests. Anode layers sprayed by a separate injection of the individual NiO and YSZ powders into the plasma show the best results.

With the new development of the LPPS Thin-Film technology (LPPS-TF), which is a special modification of conventional LPPS using reduced chamber pressures below 10 mbar, a new window has been opened to deposit uniform and dense thin layers onto large areas in short coating times. This spray process will allow the access to new market areas and will be able to bridge the gap between conventional thin film (< 1 - 10 µm) deposition using PVD/CVD processes and thick (> 50 - 200 µm) thermally sprayed layers. This paper presents the status of the LPPS-Thin Film technology as a hybrid coating process between thermal spray and vapor deposition and gives an overview of potential applications for functional thin coatings and large area coverage.

This paper will give an outline of the dynamics and growing importance of China as a key factor in a company’s sourcing, manufacturing and marketing strategy for the coming decade and beyond. First some background information on China as a manufacturing hub and vast market place will be given. Subsequently various market entry strategies for Western companies will be discussed. There will be also a brief discussion of the cultural dimensions and challenges of doing business in China. Lastly a brief overview of the Chinese thermal spray industry and resulting business opportunities will be given.

The current critical situation of the world economy pushes the companies to make themselves adaptable and to change their usual rigid behaviour in order to survive globalization of the market and the current financial crisis. A large quantity of people entering into the market created a sudden economic earthquake: the needs of goods and their way of production have changed with a subsequent unbalancing of supply and demand. The so called low cost countries (LCC) can offer a significant amount of goods at extremely low prices, with a high capability to “copy” the non-protected technologies. As consequence, it could be noted a movement of production from the rich western countries to the low cost countries, already established in several sectors (textiles, automotive, consumption goods, etc.) and in progress for higher technology sectors. The possible way to face this problem for European and US companies is to invest and increase the technological level of their products by means of effective Research and Development. This is even more valid for the SMEs. The help of the public bodies in funding R&D is crucial in order to make R&D costs acceptable for companies. This paper addresses the study of the financial instruments available for companies in order to obtain financial help for research and innovation: advantages and disadvantages are discussed. An industrial case study is shown, related to a thermal spray shop dealing with gas turbine components, where the efficient and effective use of research allows the set up and the development of the company and also contributes to the surrounding market.

The effects of globalization, technology improvement, capacity consolidation, and rising customer demands drive the printing and papermaking business worldwide. Consumption of paper, paperboard, and tissue exceeded 500 million tons in 2007, and it is estimated that one-third to one-half of this production is printed. Paper production in total is not experiencing drastic growth rates due to the increasing market share of digital media; however, market segments such as paperboard and packaging are showing growing demand. In printing, new technologies focus on production speed and quality improvement. For both printing and papermaking, the cost of energy and raw materials requires ongoing improvements in production efficiency. For equipment and machinery manufacturers serving these industries, high-end technology that lowers cost and improves quality drives the market leaders. In both industries, functional roll surfaces generated by thermal spraying help to achieve design and development objectives. The paper gives examples for the role of thermal spray coatings in both industrial areas.

For over 60 years, thermal spraying technology has advanced steadily in aerospace, power generation, and biomedical applications. Worldwide R&D efforts have produced new coating materials, new functionalities, and new processes with significant application potential in the near term. Likewise, more project teamwork, more market driven R&D, and end used education will carry thermal spraying into the next millennium.

The authors carried out in 1999 a multiclient market research covering the Thermal Coatings business in Europe. This work has allowed to obtain detailed business facts relative to the industry and has provided an in-depth understanding of applications, markets, competition, key factors for success and industry structure. Thermal coatings are defined here as coating parts by hardfacing (e.g. MIG, TIG, PTA, laser...) or thermal spray (flame, arc, plasma, HVOF...). This study also provided a further opportunity to investigate about present business issues and to provide a fresh look into growth opportunities. This presentation intends to provide the scientific community with a summary of this business analysis and to stress business issues and factors found to constrain business growth today. We do expect that a more carefully focused teamwork between independent R&D and the supply chain could significantly accelerate the growth of the Thermal Coatings business in the future.

The advantages of thermal spray technology open an increasing number of applications in several fields. However, it has to be considered that thermal spray processes contain several, partly substantial potentials of danger. As other machinery in Europe, thermal spray equipment is subject to essential health and safety requirements. This paper lists the necessary steps for the manufacturer to develop and to bring into market machinery and parts of machinery that are in conformity with the CE requirements. “CE” represents “Communauté Européenne”, the French term for the European Community. The directives, codes and legal basics, the procedure of risk assessment, the requirements to the technical documentation as well as the conditions regarding declaration and marking are discussed under the point of view of thermal spray. Some sections treat the status of modified and reconditioned machinery, the duties of users of thermal spray equipment as well as similarities and differences in the requirements in Europe to other markets.

Wall Colmonoy Ltd has developed a new generation of Iron-based powder alloys providing superior resistance to dry wear and excellent corrosion resistance. These alloys are economically interesting because they contain none or very low levels of expensive and market sensitive metals such as nickel and cobalt. These powders are marketed under the trade name Colferoloy. This paper details the properties and advantages of Colferoloy when compared to current “traditional” surface treatment methods and consumables. Metallurgical examination of the Colferoloy deposits showed that the alloy formed sub-micron structures which afford excellent dry-wear resistance, whilst the high chromium content provides good resistance to corrosion. Colferoloy alloys were applied using HVOF techniques to engineering components producing dense coatings with a hardness in the range of 950-1000 Vickers. The cost benefits of using an Iron-based alloy with low density hard phases were studied and comparisons with traditional materials were performed. This study showed that Colferoloy is a viable alternative to current hardfacing alloys and treatments.

Industry faces the continual challenges of operating in less space and accelerating line speed in order to increase productivity, improve quality, and reduce cost. These challenges are particularly evident in the film and papermaking markets. To maintain competitive products in the market place, it is essential to incorporate rollers that are; lightweight, high stiffness, and compact. To satisfy these requirements, rolls made of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (hereinafter referred to CFRP) have proven effective and have come into wide use in many industrial fields. CFRP rolls are the structural materials that were developed mainly to improve the Young's modulus of rolls. Guiding and transfer rollers frequently require surface features such as non-adhesion and wear resistance. The typical surface treatments to CFRP currently employed are; painting, plating, and rubber lining or the like, but these treatments have their limits in the manufacturing process and effectiveness. Consequently, we have developed the technology to provide rolls with the desired surface by spraying various metals, ceramics, or cermets, directly on CFRP substrate. These sprayed rolls have been intensely monitored in actual operations to insure high speed capability and longevity. In this presentation, we will talk about the rotary bending fatigue test of CFRP rolls on which the carbide cermet was plasma-sprayed and the quality stability of the roll with the two-layer composites that was confirmed based on the test results.

The current critical situation of the world economy pushes the companies to make themselves adaptable and to change their usual rigid behaviour in order to survive globalization of the market, to face the competition of the so called low cost countries (LCCs) and to overcame the current financial crisis. For the western companies, the possible way to face the movement of production to the LCCs, is to invest and increase the technological level of their products by means of effective R&D. This is even more valid for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and is particular valid for the power generation sector. This paper addresses the policies adopted by the Public Administrations in the different countries in order to support the companies. The Public Administrations have the interest to support the companies not only in order to promote their own growth but, above all, in order to support the development of the territory where the company is located with the growth of the job numbers and the increasing of the subsuppliers activities. A review of the financial instruments available for companies in order to obtain financial help for research and innovation is provided, advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The focus is placed to the energy sector. An industrial case study is shown, related to a thermal spray shop dealing with gas turbine components, where the efficient and effective use of research allows the set up and the development of the company and also contributes to the surrounding market.

Preface for the International Thermal Spray Conference 2010.

High Velocity Oxy Fuel, (HVOF), is a high energy Thermal Spraying Combustion Process, producing high density coatings with hardness values in excess of 1200 VPN. Such coatings, using metal carbide spray material, are used extensively in the aerospace industry, in areas where high wear resistance is particularly important. The Linde Detonation Gun, CD-Gun'), has until recent times been the predominant system for applying these hard faced coatings. However, the advent of a number of new HVOF systems approximately 5 years ago, allowed Gas Turbine Repair and Overhaul bases the opportunity to offer a more competitive coating service, i.e. these "1st generation" HVOF systems allowed the development of comparable, if not superior coatings to these produced by the D-Gun. Having successfully developed and approved HVOF coatings for the use on Rolls-Royce Gas Turbine components for both Repair and New Manufacture, Rolls Wood Group addressed the problem of transferring HVOF technology from aerospace components to alternative markets, i.e. refurbishment of equipment used in Oil and Gas Production.

Preface for the International Thermal Spray Conference 2008.

The author carried out in 2003 a multiclient survey and research covering thermal spraying industry in China. This work mainly focus on the productive level and scale of thermal spraying equipment and materials, application and coating job shop, R&D in universities and institutes as well as the develop trends of thermal spraying industry in China. This presentation intends to provide general pictures on thermal spraying industry in China, by offering data and analysis, forecasts the future of thermal spraying in China.

Thermal spray coatings play an important role in the field of surface protection. Threats and opportunities in the thermal spray industry include TS process developments, impact of health and safety, standardization, pre/post treatments, non destructive evaluation of coating characteristics and environment. In this paper, the European thermal spray industry size is estimated. Examples of customer requirements from typical Original Equipment Manufacturers to industry end users are also discussed. The paper provides some views on the ability of a particular spray shop to compete and grow given the market conditions. In addition, it discusses internal benchmarks used by Terolab Services. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

This study focuses on two major advantages of induction heating over flame heating in the treatment of coated boiler tubes. In both cases the induction heating process is simple, fast and effective. Firstly, we will show how the use of induction heating results in exceptionally thick and hard coatings with low porosity. Having high corrosion and wear resistant properties, the products can satisfy industry's needs for reliable coatings with a long service life. Next, the study will detail how a pipe with the coating already applied can be simultaneously bent by induction heating while the coating is melted and fused to the pipe. The result is a thicker, more even and reliable coating than that accomplished by the flame sprayed method on a bent pipe. The process is not only less cumbersome, but again provides a superior product for the market.

The crystal structure of the coating depends on the splashing and solidification of the sprayed particles. The splashing of the particles is simulated by commercial software taking temperature dependent parameters like melt viscosity and surface tension into account. This article provides the theoretical background and the experimental verification. The steps of simulation solidification, splashing, and heat and momentum transfer help to develop novel coating systems with defined microstructure and shorten the time to market. Experimental investigations were carried out using Ni and Ni/Cr 80/20 spray powders with a mean particle diameter of about 15 μm. The theoretical investigations to describe the flattening process of a droplet show the influence of particle velocity and temperature. It was shown that different material parameters, as latent heat or surface energy, have a significant influence on the simulation results.