Alumina-zirconia ceramic material has been plasma sprayed using a water stabilized plasma torch (WSP) to produce free standing coatings. The as-sprayed coatings have very low porosity and are mostly amorphous. The amorphous material crystallizes at temperatures above 900 °C. A spark plasma sintering apparatus has been used to heat the as-sprayed samples to temperatures above 900 °C to induce crystallization while at the same time a uniaxial pressure of 80 GPa has been applied to the their surface. After such post-treatment, the ceramic samples are crystalline and exhibit very low open porosity. The as-sprayed amorphous materials also exhibit high hardness and high abrasion resistance. Both properties are significantly improved in the heat-treated samples whose microstructure is best described as nanocomposite with the very small crystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix.

Dysprosia stabilized zirconia coatings with large globular pores have good potential as TBC topcoats. In previous work, such coatings have been produced by air plasma spraying with the aid of a polymer pore former. The aim of this work is to optimize the spraying parameters. A design of experiments approach was used to create a two-level full factorial test matrix based on spray distance, powder feed rate, and hydrogen flow. An agglomerated and sintered dysprosia stabilized zirconia (DySZ) powder mixed with polymer particles was sprayed on Hastelloy X substrates that had been prepared with NiCoCrAlY bond coats. The coatings obtained were evaluated based on thermal conductivity, thermocyclic fatigue life, and morphology, which are shown to correlate with spray parameters and in-flight particle properties.

Adhesion/cohesion testing represents one of the most common methods for benchmarking and optimization of thermal spray coatings. However, due to the inhomogeneous coating microstructure, such testing may be quite troublesome. In this study, adhesion/cohesion strength of representative metallic and ceramic coatings deposited by Water Stabilized Plasma (WSP) spraying was evaluated by different methods, namely Tensile Adhesion Test (TAT), newly utilized pin test and Tubular Coating Tensile (TCT) test. Combination of various methods enabled the evaluation of the splat bonding quality in different loading modes. Limitations and benefits of each method for testing of WSP coatings are demonstrated. Dominating failure micromechanisms were determined by supplementary fractographic analysis.

The effect of grit blasting exposure time on the adhesion of plasma sprayed Al 2 O 3 and 316L stainless steel coatings was studied in the present work. The steel substrates were grit blasted prior to the coating deposition. Two sets of substrates with exposure time of 1 and 4 seconds were prepared. Both types of coatings were deposited using Water Stabilized Plasma (WSP) torch. Adhesion strength was evaluated using standardized pulloff test. The obtained results showed a slight improvement in the adhesion strength for the blasting time of 4 s. Failure processes taking place in the coatings during the pull-off tests were described based on the detailed fractographic analysis.

Mechanical and thermal properties of thermally sprayed coatings, especially ceramics, are strongly influenced by cracks and pores that are present in the coating microstructure. In the recent past, there have been efforts to find an analytical model describing the coating properties based on the microstructural characteristics. Various analytical models were developed and published in the literature. In this study, several major models were applied to ceramic and metal coatings to describe their elastic modulus and thermal conductivity. The sensitivity of the models to the variations in the microstructure and relevancy of their use in specific cases were examined. The results were compared with those obtained by FEM modeling and experimentally measured values.

This study investigates the mechanical response of plasma-sprayed ceramic coatings to different levels of mechanical and thermal loading. Test samples were subjected to four-point bending and thermal cycling loads. Nonlinear behavior and significant hysteresis were observed, indicative of inelastic phenomena. Previous tests were complemented by structural examinations and bonded-interface testing. Relevant structural features and possible mechanisms underlying this behavior are discussed.