The cold gas dynamic spray process, or cold spraying (CS), represents a radical departure from conventional thermal spray (TS) methods in that the deposition process relies purely on kinetic energy rather than on a combination of thermal and kinetic components. A potential advantage of this process over TS is the ability to generate dense coatings retaining initial material chemistry and phase composition with a very little oxidation. Also, low temperature process (no bulk particle melting) eliminates solidification stresses and enables thicker coatings. However, hard brittle materials like ceramics can not be sprayed without using ductile binders. In this study, magnetic alloys such as FeSiBNbCu also called Finemet and FeSiBNbCu-Al with various percentages of Aluminum coatings were synthesized using cold spray technique in order to produce ferromagnetic materials. Ultra-fine grain coatings were obtained using FINEMET nanostructured powders mixed with Aluminum as ductile binder in order to improve adherence. Magnetic measurements revealed a soft magnetic character for all the powders and the coatings. 25% of Al was considered as ideal to produce a homogenous coating with suitable magnetic properties.

Flame sprayed PEEK (poly-ether-ether-ketone) coatings, with an amorphous structure, were subjected to isothermal treatments with annealing temperatures from 180 to 300 °C and holding time from 1 to 30 min. The coating structures were studied by means of DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) and XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) analyses. All annealed coatings exhibit semi-crystalline structures. Coexistence of thick and thin lamellae in the spherulites of annealed coatings can be deduced from the analysis results. The Knoop hardness and the interfacial adhesion of the coatings were examined. The annealed coatings exhibit higher hardness than the amorphous ones. The formation of the thick lamellae is the determinant factor for improving the coating hardness. However, the annealed coatings exhibit a weak adherence to the substrate. Some fissures or spherical porosities could be observed, in certain zones, on the coating/substrate interface. The formation of these fissures and porosities could be ascribed to the coating residual stress and the big volume contraction during the crystallisation that occurred under the annealing condition.

Amorphous metallic alloys can be produced by rapid quenching from the metallic liquid at sufficient cooling rates to suppress the nucleation and growth of crystalline phases. The cooling rates required depend on the alloy constitution; generally the necessary values are in the order of 106 Ks-1[1]. There has been considerable interest in the manufacture of Fe-based metallic glasses because they possess attractive combinations of properties such as high hardness, good abrasive wear resistance together with enhanced corrosion resistance and good magnetic properties. However, in order to achieve these cooling rates in metallic alloy melts, samples less than 50 ƒÝm thick must be suddenly brought into good thermal contact with an efficient heat sink. Hence, these amorphous alloys are frequently produced in the form of ribbon or powder. An alternative approach consists to employ thermal spraying to deposit the alloys directly onto a substrate, in the form of a protective coating about 200 ƒÝm thick. In this study, FeSi powder was chosen as feedstock material. It is characterized by its good magntic properties [2- 7]. In order to control temperature and velocity of the in-flight particles during the coating deposition, on-line measurement of flame sprayed FeSi particles were performed with high-speed two-color pyrometer used especially for the spray forming process. In the same time, a wide band spectral pyrometer (LAND INFRARED) was used to monitor the coating surface temperature to ensure achieving good cooling rates. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the FeSi coatings structure present a crystalline phase and magnetic measurements indicate the soft ferromagnetic character of this last. Abstract only; no full-text paper available.

In this study, the magnetic properties of iron-based coatings obtained by HVOF thermal spraying were investigated. These properties were correlated to alloy type, heat treating temperature and coating thickness using artificial neural network method. Among coating characteristics, porosity is regarded as an influential parameter on the magnetic properties. Therefore, the role of the microstructure was particularly emphasized in this study. Magnetic properties, especially coercivity, showed a weak decrease with the addition of alloying elements. However, these properties remained nearly unchanged at high temperatures and for large coating thicknesses. Porosities are regarded as defects anchoring Bloch walls and consequently promoting an increase of coercivity.

Ultra fine grain Fe-Si based coatings were synthesised by HVOF thermal spraying of nanostructured powders obtained from mechanical milling. Magnetic measurements revealed a soft magnetic character for all the coatings. Additions of boron, niobium and copper were investigated. The thermal stability and the evolution of the coercivity with temperature were observed to be remarkable.

Substrate temperature is nowadays recognized as a key parameter to optimise the coating quality in the thermal spraying process. Generally parts being processed are in motion and therefore non contact temperature measurement devices are appropriate. In contrast to thermocouples, optical pyrometers have several advantages. First, they are easy to install and second they do not bring any disturbance to the measured system. Meanwhile, several problems may arise with those devices which are not always considered as they should be and in particular the variation of material emissivity temperature, the effect of the reflection of the external radiation or the attenuation of the optical signal due to the variable transmissivity of the optical path. The aim of this work was to develop algorithms for correcting optical pyrometer temperature measurements during thermal spraying by taking into account emissivity variations and radiation reflexion on the components. Emissivity of some materials with respect to the specific spectral band of the pyrometer and the influence of reflected radiations were measured. Results are discussed in order to point out the influence of each parameter on the temperature value.

Iron-based alloys were sprayed on a copper substrate using high velocity oxy-fuel process to form amorphous coatings. Two modes of cooling were used, water and air, in order to increase the particles speed solidification. Structures and magnetic properties of FeNb and FeSi deposits have been characterized. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that FeNb coatings present a partially amorphous structure, however, in the case of FeSi alloys, their structure is completely crystalline. The use of the two modes of cooling has given almost the same results for the two types of powders. As a consequence, magnetic properties of this material could be improved by using a heat treatment.

The development of amorphous and nanocrystalline materials took a significant part in search on materials these last years. Indeed, the magnetic, chemical and mechanic properties of materials are greatly modified when the size of crystallites becomes nanometric. The absence of crystal structure involves a macroscopic behaviour of the alloy, which is completely different from the same alloy in a polycrystalline state, particularly magnetic and mechanical properties. We have carried out coatings by APS plasma thermal spraying on a copper substrate using three types of powders, FeB (17,5% wt-B), FeSi (6,5% wt-Si) and FeNb (67,2% wt-Nb). Structure of these coatings was characterized by SEM and X-rays. We have also tested the magnetic properties of these deposits. Results obtained showed that the FeNb alloys are amagnetic with a partially amorphous structure, however FeSi and FeB alloys presented a microcrystalline structure with soft magnetic properties.