The various thermal spraying methods available include the plasma process, which uses a plasma flame to melt a fine powder before it is sprayed onto a substrate, and the High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) spray process, in which the flame is made from the combustion of oxygen. These methods differ both in the temperature and velocity with which the molten particles impact the substrate, leading to different coating characteristics. This includes differences in splat morphology and the nature of microstructural interactions at the splat-substrate interface. That is, features such as local melting of the substrate, the existence of porosity and the presence of oxides. For this study a nickel-chromium powder was sprayed onto mirror-polished stainless steel substrates using both plasma spray and HVOF to form single splats. These splats, and their interface with the substrate, were characterized using a range of microstructural characterization techniques and the observed differences were correlated to the spray conditions used.

The morphology of sprayed splat raises the coatings adhesion and the properties which are determined by the spraying parameters. A lot of studies in this field show that the substrate surface temperature is a very relevant factor for the splat shape: the hypotheses of substrate surface wetability and contamination or absorption layer on the surfaces are supported by the fact that the near disk-shaped splat can be obtained in increasing the substrate temperature. In the PROTAL process, a short duration pulse laser is used to ablate the substrate just before powder spraying. This ablation is powerful enough to eliminate the contaminations on the substrate surface and to improve the adhesion. In this study the analyses of NiAl splat morphology on polished TA6V substrate were carried out using PROTAL process with different substrate temperatures and different heating modes: the flame and another laser. Results show that the temperature at which the disk shaped splat can be obtained was decreased dramatically by PROTAL process and PROTAL process combined with another laser has increased the adhesion strength of the coatings.

The melting behavior of in-flight particle and its impact on splat morphology are studied. A group parameter, “melting index”, has been derived to correlate the melting status of inflight particles with particle size, velocity, and temperature which can be measured experimentally. Numerical simulations have been used to determine the unknown parameters in the melting index. The effect of particle size on its melting behavior has been investigated.

Fundamental aspects of a plasma sprayed cast iron coating on an aluminum alloy substrate are investigated in the present study: focusing on the effects of preheat substrate temperature (T S ) and chamber pressure (P C ) on the splat morphology, the adhesive strength of splats, the formation of a reaction layer and graphite. Splash-type splats appear at low T S but disk and star-shaped splats arise at high T S . Deformed substrate ridges, mainly due to the slight surface melting, are formed adjacent to the splat periphery at high T S . At low T S , pores are observed at the splat/substrate interface, which cause a decrease in the adhesion of splats. In contrast, a reaction layer composed of iron, aluminum and oxygen is ready to form at high T S . The amount of graphitized carbon increases in cast iron splats with T S . At a low P C of 26.3 kPa, disk-type splats are in the majority at a constant T S of 473 K. As P C increases, star-shaped splats appear along with disk splats. The flattening ratio of disk splats decreases with the increase of P C , because of a decrease in the kinetic energy and temperature of molten droplets. An interfacial oxide layer composed of iron, aluminum and oxygen is ready to form at high P C . The number of pores intensively increases with P C , which leads to a decrease in the adhesive strength of splats. The amount of formed graphite in cast iron splats slightly increases with P C , however, that of a rapidly solidified phase of Fe-Si-C decreases because of lowering of the solidification rate.

New method for characterization of coating microstructures and for evaluation of coating property by means of surface morphology has been proposed. In this paper, the distribution of shape and dimensions of splat was examined using quantitative analysis of scanning electron microscope images from the surface of spray pattern as well as the surface of coating. Results obtained in this study indicate that it is necessary to analyze the spray pattern as well as the surface morphology in order to estimate the coating property by means of the distribution of splat which composes the coating. Moreover, the splats, which are in the interface between the substrate and the coating, should have the same morphology as those of the coating surface. Therefore, the analysis of the surface morphology is important even for the evaluation of coating adhesion behavior.

Yttria stabilized zirconia particles are plasma sprayed on polished stainless steel substrate. Starting powders are fused and crushed powder, and hollow spherical powder. Four types of the splat morphology, which are splash, rugged, gravel mounted, and disk splats, are observed. Splash and disk splats are fully melted particles, but rugged and gravel mounted like splats are partially melted particles Gravel mounted like splat is observed from only hollow spherical powder, and disk splat is observed in the case of high substrate temperature. It is found that the ratio of splat morphology changes with spraying parameters. Porosity of the coating from fused and crushed powder is higher and Young's modulus of that is lower than that from hollow spherical powder. The ratio of rugged and gravel mounted splats affect porosity and Young's modulus. Adhesive strength increases with the increase in the ratio of disk splat. So, the coating properties are improved by controlling splat morphology. KEYWORDS: Splat Morphology, Partially Melted Particle, Disk Splat, Porosity, Young's Modulus, Adhesive Strength

It has been said that plasma-sprayed ceramics particles are often supercooled before the impact on substrate. Some numerical models of the droplet impact actually included the supercooling effects. However, there is no report that has experimentally confirmed the effects on splat morphology. Therefore, in this research, we have mainly investigated the supercooling effects on splat morphology as well as splat microstructure. To achieve this, we developed an in-situ measurement technique utilizing radiation from a melt particle to monitor the impact of single particle successively under plasma spraying. The system was able to identify each single particle, which enabled us to correlate the splat morphology with impact velocity and thermal history of each particle during the impact. Yttria-stabilized zirconia powders were sprayed onto quartz glass substrate by the argon-hydrogen dc-rf hybrid plasma under atmospheric pressure. Waveforms of emissions and thermal history obtained during the impact were precisely analyzed. Especially, we closely examined thermal history during particle spreading to find the recalescence. In addition, splat morphologies were examined statistically in relation to their thermal histories. Based on the measurement, we also evaluated the viscosity of zirconia, cooling rate, and thermal contact resistance experimentally.

Splats formed during a thermal spray process may be either highly fragmented or intact and disk-like. To predict this change in splat morphology, a dimensionless solidification parameter (Θ), which takes into account factors such as the substrate temperature, splat and substrate thermophysical properties, and thermal contact resistance between the two, has been defined. Θ is the ratio of the thickness of the solid layer formed in the splat while it is spreading, to the splat thickness. The value of Θ can be calculated from simple analytical models of splat solidification and spreading. If the solid layer growth is very slow (Θ << 1), the droplet spreads out to a large extent. Once it reaches maximum spread it becomes so thin that it ruptures, producing fragmented splats. If, however, the solid layer thickness is significant (Θ ~ 0.1 – 0.4), the droplet is restricted from spreading too far and does not become thin enough to rupture. Under such circumstances, disk-type splats are expected. When the solid layer growth is rapid (Θ~1), spreading of the droplet is significantly obstructed by the solid layer, producing splats with fingers around their periphery. Predictions from the model are compared with experimental data.

This study investigates the relationship between splat morphology and adhesion strength in plasma sprayed coatings. The shape and size of the splats are examined and found to differ, in some cases significantly, depending on whether the splats are in the center or on the periphery of the spray pattern. Splats in the center of the pattern are formed by particles with higher temperature and velocity than those on the periphery and they tend to produce higher quality layers. In an experiment in which alumina layers are sprayed through a graphite slit filter, coating adhesion is shown to be superior, as expected. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

A study was performed to examine the effects of starting powder composition, substrate thermal conductivity, and substrate temperature on the composition and structure of individual Al-Cu-Fe splats formed during thermal spraying. The fraction of quasicrystalline phase which formed was found to depend on the chemistry and solidification history of the splats. Due to evaporative loss of Al during spraying, an initial powder composition higher in Al produced splats closer to the desired composition, which yielded more of the quasicrystalline phase. Deposition onto lower thermal conductivity surfaces resulted in an increase in the quasicrystalline phase, as did solidification onto higher temperature substrates.

In the thermal spray process, particulate materials can be melted by plasma atmosphere due to its high local temperature from 8700 °C to 15,000 °C. Therefore, the material powders turn into droplets after being melted by injection into the hot flame. Molten droplets are accelerated toward a substrate and form the splats which quickly solidify; finally, the film is formed by pile-up splats. Splat morphology and post treatment can determine the microstructure, mechanical and physical properties of the coating. In this study, BaTiO 3 films were deposited onto a mirror polished stainless steel substrates kept at room temperature and 500 °C. At the elevated temperatures, the desorption of adsorbates and condensate at the substrate surface are the most important factor which change the morphology of the splats, from irregular- splash morphology to disk-like shape. Splat morphology can determine deposit microstructure and improve the coating properties. The morphology of individual splats and the post treated films were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Results indicated that the porosity in the film produced at room temperature was higher than that in the film deposited on the heated substrates. Also, post heat treatment can improve coating properties

The deposition mechanism of cold spray process has not been fully understood at present. It has been widely accepted that particle velocity prior to impact is one of the most important parameter for cold spray process, and bonding occurs when the impact velocities of particles exceed a critical value. For cold spray, the splat is the basic element of coatings and determines the coating properties, such as porosity, bonding strength. Therefore, the study of splats is helpful to understand the deposition mechanism of cold spray process. In this work, copper powder was utilized to prepare splats on three substrates, aluminum alloy, copper and stainless steel, under different spray conditions. Particle velocities were measured by DPV-2000 system experimentally. The morphologies of copper splats and cross sections were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM). In order to control the cross sections of splatted particle passing the center of particle as much as possible, the cross sections were polished by a new method with ion beam. The influences of particle velocity on cold-sprayed splat morphologies and cross-sections were discussed.

Thermal spray of polymers has had limited investigation due to the narrow processing windows that are inherent to polymer powders, especially their low temperatures of thermal degradation. The polymer poly aryl ether ether ketone (PEEK) has a high thermal degradation temperature and high resistance to alkaline and acidic attack. These properties led to PEEK being selected for investigation. To minimise thermal degradation of the particles, the high velocity air fuel (HVAF) technique was used. To investigate the effect of substrate pre-treatment on single splat properties, single splats were collected on aluminium 5052 substrates with six different pretreatments. The single splats collected were imaged by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and image analysis was performed with ImageJ, an open source scientific graphics package. On substrates held at 323°C it was found that substrate pretreatment had a significant effect on the circularity and area of single splats, and also on the number of splats deposited on the substrates. Increases in splat circularity, area, and the number of splats deposited on the surface were linked to the decrease in chemisorbed water on the substrate surface and the decrease of surface roughness. This proved that surface chemistry and roughness are crucial to forming single splats with good properties, which will lead to coatings of good properties.

The structure and morphology of plasma sprayed splats are experimentally investigated using different droplet materials and substrate materials. Droplet materials include aluminum, copper, nickel and refractory metals such as molybdenum and tungsten, and substrate materials include aluminum, stainless steel, and molybdenum plates. The results show that the splashing occurs during the splatting of a completely molten droplet. Most splats formed by droplets molten completely are only central part of the ideal disk type ones, which are defined as the annulus-ringed disk-like splat. It is found that the morphology of such annulus-ringed disk-like splat is greatly influenced by the combination of droplet and substrate materials depending on whether substrate melting occurs. With the combinations of droplet and substrate materials which are of similar thermal properties the splashing of central area of splat tends to occur to present a honeycomb structure at the center of splat. When droplet impacting can cause melting of substrate annulus-ringed splat prefers to present a split type. The flattening ratio of an annulus-ringed disk splat is typically less than 2.

Copper splats are deposited on the flat stainless steel surface at the ambient and preheated conditions. The splashing occurs as the splats are deposited at an ambient atmosphere. The characteristics of the splashing occurring at different splat regions during spreading of the droplet are examined. The splashing can be classified into two types according to the splashing mechanisms. At the surrounding region of the splat larger than flattening ratio about 1.5 to 2, the radial splashing takes place by jetting-away of splat materials, which leads to the formation of a splat with a reduced diameter. At the central area of the reduced splat, the upward splashing occurs through the blowing up of the top surface layer which results from the high pressure of gas bubbles. At the preheated condition which can remove surface adsorbates, no evident splashing occurs under the normal spray conditions. Two types of splashing can be explained by the gases evolved through evaporation of the adsorbates resulting from the heating of the high temperature droplet. The spreading of the droplet involved in the wave urging flow is presented.

Different mechanisms of splashing of droplets impacting onto the substrate surface during thermal spraying are considered. It is shown that supercooling formed in the flattening droplet consists of the thermal supercooling and that arisen due to the high pressure developed upon the droplet impact. Solidification starts when the supercooling exceeds some critical value. With a "cold" substrate when its temperature is less than a transition temperature the marked contribution to the supercooling is due to its high pressure part. In this case a regular disc-shaped splat will be formed in the central part of the flattening droplet and splashing will occur in the periphery. With a "hot" substrate when its temperature exceeds the transition temperature the thermal supercooling is high enough, no splashing occurs and a regular disc-shaped splat is formed. Theoretical results agree with the experimental observations.

NiCr was plasma sprayed at room temperature on aluminum and stainless steel substrates that had been hydrothermally treated in deionized water for 30 minutes. A major difference was observed in that splat formation occurred only on the stainless steel. A numerical model was developed to simulate the impact of molten nickel splats on the treated substrates. The simulation closely matched experimental results in terms of splat morphology, porosity, delamination, and specific locations of substrate melting. Moreover, it confirmed that splat morphology is influenced, not by oxide thickness, but rather by water release from the dehydration of oxyhydroxide at the outermost surface. The insulating layer of released water inhibits heat transfer from the splat to the substrate, which reduces solidification rates, resulting in further spreading and thinning of splats. These findings shed light on splat spreading and solidification and provide insights on the effect of substrate surface chemistry on thermal spray splat morphology.

It is well accepted that the morphology and microstructure of the splats have a strong influence on the characteristics and properties of thermally sprayed coatings. McPherson has made pioneering and outstanding contributions in the above area, especially for plasma sprayed coatings. Recently, splat morphology - microstructure - properties correlation has also been attempted in the case of HVOF thermal spray coatings. However, only limited data is available in the case of detonation sprayed coatings inspite of the fact that DS coatings have been available commercially for a long time. In the present work, the influence of particle velocity and temperature on the splat morphology and also area coverage of the splat has been studied for detonation sprayed Al 2 O 3 particles on a mild steel substrate. Further, the effect of two detonation spray process variables namely, oxy fuel ratio and shot frequency on splat morphology and splat area coverage has been evaluated. The above correlation has then been utilized to understand the variation of deposition efficiency of detonation sprayed Al 2 O 3 coatings on mild steel as a function of spray process parameters.

The effects of the plasma spray process parameters on the microstructure and properties of coatings have been recognized for a long time. It is now clearly proved that the quality and the properties of the deposits are strongly dependent on the in-flight particle characteristics as well as on the splat morphology. The aim of this study was to examine in detail: firstly the interaction between an Al 2 O 3 /13%TiO 2 powder and the spraying process, secondly the splat formation in order to understand the morphology of the deposits. A good way to reach a better understanding of the particle/ plasma interaction is to determine the particle parameters at impact. The particles parameters: velocity, temperature and diameter, prior to their impact on the substrate were measured by the DPV-2000 diagnostic system. The effect of particle velocity, temperature and size on the splat morphology and deposits properties for different plasma conditions were examined. The splat morphology was characterized using the Sommerfeld dimensionless number, K; the value of which is directly related to the impact mode. These analyses were correlated to microhardness, roughness and to the tribological properties of the coatings.

Polypropylene (PP) was flame sprayed onto rough mild steel substrates at room temperature (RT) that was preheated at 70 °C, 120 °C, and 170 °C. Single solidified droplets (splats) were collected and analysed to understand how processing variables influenced the thermal spray coating characteristics. The splat morphology was characterized in detail using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The splats exhibited a disk-like shape with a large central viscous core and a fully melted wide rim with a thin edge. The splat size increased with increasing substrate temperature. A unique flat microstructure was observed on the surface of the splat deposited onto the RT substrate, whereas a flowing pattern appeared on the splat surfaces deposited onto the preheated substrates and the pattern increased by increasing the substrate temperature. The results of this study revealed improved splat-substrate adhesion by heating the substrate from RT to 170 °C. On the basis of the result, the influence of substrate parameters on splat morphologies was employed to establish a relationship between the microstructural characteristics and processing variables of flame sprayed polymeric coatings.