The commonly used method for preparing EBCs is atmospheric plasma spraying (APS), but it has problems such as easy oxidation of the coating, low spraying power, and low substrate temperature, resulting in the coating having multiple pores, cracks, and insufficient density. The new plasma spraying physical vapor deposition (PS-PVD) technology can solve these problems. This article compares the microstructure, mechanical properties, and phase composition of EBCs prepared using APS and PS-PVD processes.

Plasma Facing Materials (PFMs) suffer from very high heat load including quasi-stationary high heat load during normal operation and transient events with extremely high heat load during normal plasma operation and off-normal events. In this paper, W/Cu functional gradient coating was applied on CuCrZr substrate (250mm × 120mm × 30mm) with compositionally gradient W/Cu as bond coat (0.4-0.6 mm) and 1.5 mm thickness W coating as top coat via VPS for continuous deposition duration of 5 h. VPS-W/CuCrZr mockup with built-in cooling channel was prepared for evaluating the transient vertical displacement and plasma disruption events applied by high energy electron beam. The formation of cracks and surface melting of VPS W/Cu mockup were investigated under the two transient high heat loads (HHL). The coatings were able to absorb about 2 MJ/m2 in HHL without significant damage.