Anisotropy of stress-strain behavior, fracture toughness, and fatigue crack growth rate was studied for Inconel 738LC alloy built by the Dynamic Metal Deposition technique (3DMD, a high-speed Directed Energy Deposition technique). The measured quasi-static properties, i.e. stress-strain and fracture toughness showed only subtle anisotropy, with no more than 10% differences found for different orientations. The fatigue crack growth rate was influenced by the specimen orientation more significantly (30% for fatigue crack growth threshold, up to 90% for Paris exponent and coefficient). This pilot study attributes the anisotropy of fatigue crack growth properties to material texture and the columnar grain geometry resulting from directional solidification. The obtained testing results indicate that 3DMD technology can produce materials with good mechanical and fracture properties even from materials considered as non-weldable such as In 738LC. The study provides a solid experimental base for further investigation of the fatigue crack growth mechanism relation to the material texture in 3DMD In 738LC.

Tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) of W-Ni composition was deposited from a blend of standard thermal spray powders using a radio frequency inductively coupled plasma torch in a protective atmosphere. The coating contained a fully developed WHA structure, i.e., spherical W particles embedded in a Ni-rich matrix. Bending tensile strength R m , bending yield strength R p,0.2 , and elastic modulus were measured and compared with W-Ni-Co references fabricated by sintered and quenched (SQ) and forged and annealed (FA) powder metallurgy (PM) processes. The fatigue and fracture properties of the plasma spray deposits are comparable with those of the SQ-PM reference material, but inferior to those of the FA-PM reference. The results of various property tests are presented and analyzed in the paper.

Fatigue crack growth in self-standing plasma sprayed tungsten and molybdenum beams with artificially introduced notches subjected to pure bending was studied. Beams width, thickness and length was 4 mm, 3 mm and 32 mm respectively. Fatigue crack length was measured using the differential compliance method and fatigue crack growth rate was established as a function of stress intensity factor. Unusual crack opening under compressive loading part of the cycle was detected. Fractographic analysis revealed the respective crack formation mechanisms. At low crack propagation rates, the fatigue crack growth takes place by intergranular splat fracture and splat decohesion for Mo coating. In W coating, intergranular splat fracture and void interconnection formed the fatigue crack. Frequently, the crack deflected from the notch plane being attracted to stress concentrators formed by porosity. At higher values of the stress intensity factor, the splat intergranular cracking become more common and the crack propagated more perpendicularly to the specimen surface.

Our previous experiments with low-cost steel substrates confirmed that individual steps of conventional thermal barrier coating (TBC) deposition may influence fatigue properties of the coated samples differently. In this study, testing was carried out for TBC samples deposited on industrially more relevant Hastelloy X substrates. Samples were tested after each step of TBC deposition process: as-received (non-coated), grit-blasted, bond-coated (NiCoCrAlY) and bondcoated + top-coated (yttria-stabilized zirconia - YSZ). Conventional atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) with gas stabilized plasma torch was used for deposition of both bond coat and top coat. In addition, for one half of the samples, bond coat was prepared by consecutive combination of HVAF (High Velocity Air Fuel) and APS processes. Samples were tested both in as-sprayed condition and after 100 hours annealing at 980 °C, which simulated in-service conditions. Obtained results showed that different fatigue performance may be expected for various stages of the TBC deposition as well as due to the variation of the deposition process and sample temperature history.

The paper presents an integrated study of the effects of RF plasma spray process parameters on the particle melting, particle spheroidisation and acceleration in the plasma, particle-substrate interactions and final deposit properties. Particle temperatures and velocities have been studied, by both experimental and numerical simulation methods, as functions of spray particle diameters. In-flight spheroidisation behavior was also observed by means of a particle capturing technique while splat formation was studied on polished stainless steel substrates. Optimized process parameters were then estimated and used to produce deposits on stationary substrates. Deposit properties, such as splat shape and crystal grain morphologies, apparent densities and deposition efficiencies were observed and processing parameters further optimized. The results obtained indicate that the advantages of the RF inductively coupled plasma spray technique, such as the longer particle residence time in the plasma and “cleanliness” of the process can be efficiently utilized to deposit dense tungsten metal parts or coatings.