In this work, steel columns are metallurgical bonded to tempered glass with the aid of atmospheric plasma spraying and low-temperature soldering. Glass surfaces were sandblasted using different grain sizes, then multilayer (Al 2 O 3 -Cu) coatings were applied at various power levels and spraying distances. Sn-Ag-Cu solder paste was then painted on the metallized glass and steel structures were set in place and soldered in a reflow oven. The interfacial bond strength of the alumina layer was measured along with the strength of the solder joint. The results are presented and correlated with sandblasting grain size and spraying heat input.

The delamination wear mechanism of the thermally sprayed coatings was studied by analyzing coatings structural feature and stress distribution on the warm surface, and the influencing factors on the delamination wear were discussed. And the delamination wear mode of coating was developed. The results show that, the thermally sprayed coatings have typical aspect of lamellar structure. There are oxide layers between splats, and there also exist porosity and micro-crack in the coatings. The coating surface was subjected to alternately tensile stress and compression stress caused by normal load and friction force during sliding. In a certain depth below the surface, there exists maximum shear stress. Therefore fatigue damage will take place at subsurface of the coating under alternate stress. The adhesion strength between splats of coating prepared by HVAS is by far lower than casting material because of lamellar structure. And the adhesion strength between splats is further weakened due to the defects (such as porosity and micro-crack) appearing mostly on the boundaries between thin oxide sheets and splats. When the fatigue damage accumulates to a certain value, micro-cracks initiate at the defects between splats. Then these micro-cracks grow, connect, and propagate along the defects between splats. Finally, these cracks shear to the coating surface leading to spallation of the splats, and thus wear debris is generated. By repeating the above process delamination of the coatings will occur. Reducing friction coefficient, increasing coatings hardness and adhesion strength between inter-splats are the basic methods to improve the wear resistance of thermally sprayed coatings. Abstract only; no full-text paper available.

Cored wires and high velocity arc spraying technique (HVAS) were applied to produce Zn-Al-Mg and Zn-Al-Mg-Re alloy coatings on low carbon steel substrates. And the effects of rare-earth metal on microstructure and corrosion resistance of the Zn-Al-Mg coating were investigated. The microstructures and mechanical properties were studied by SEM, EDS and XRD. The coatings show a typical aspect of layered thermal sprayed material structure. SEM results revealed that the addition of small amount of REM to the cored wires would result in a fine grained structure in the coating layer together with a dense microstructure, which is the reason for the adhesion strength enhancement and the porosity reducing of the coating. And the electrochemical corrosion mechanisms of the coatings were discussed. Chemical analysis of the coating indicated the composition to be Zn-16.5Al-5.9Mg-4.6O-RE (wt%). The phases of the coatings are Zn, Al 5 Mg 11 Zn 4 , MgZn 2 and Al 3 Mg 2 mainly, together with oxide ZnO, ZnAl 2 O 4 , and MgAl 2 O 4 . The electrochemical corrosion behaviors of Zn-Al-Mg-RE coating were investigated in 5%NaCl solution comparing with Zn-Al-Mg coating. Electrochemical measurements in the forms of potential-time and potentiodynamic polarization tests showed that such two coatings behaved excellent electrochemical corrosion resistance in salt solution, and the Zn-Al-Mg-RE coating was much more stable. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results revealed that small amount of rare-earth metal can not promote to form the passive film but it could enhance the surface property of the coating extraordinarily, which will has a great effect on the corrosion behaviors of the coating. Keywords: Zn-Al-Mg-RE coating; high velocity arc spraying; cored wires; potentiodynamic polarization; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy