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This paper is the continuation of previous work,[1] in which plasma fluctuations were shown to produce significant time-dependent variations in the in-flight particle temperature and velocity, as well as in the number of detected particles. In this paper, the impact of the plasma fluctuations on the coating microstructure and deposition efficiency is demonstrated. Alumina coatings and deposition efficiencies, obtained with two sets of spray conditions showing similar in-flight particle conditions (velocity and temperature) with the DPV-2000 but displaying very different voltage fluctuations, are compared. The coating produced in the less stable plasma condition (C-I) is found to be more porous and contains a larger number of unmelted particles than the other coating produced in more steady plasma conditions (C-II). Moreover, condition C-I yields a significantly lower deposition efficiency. Such large discrepancies must be traced back to the physical characteristics of the particle jet. Laser illumination of the particle jet is used to probe particles too cold to be detected by pyrometric means. Cold particles are found in a much larger proportion in C-I than in C-II. They are ascribed to particles that are injected when the plasma is in a low enthalpy state. Periodic time-dependent variations in the in-flight characteristics of cold and hot particles, synchronous with the voltage fluctuations, are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on high-velocity air-fuel (HVAF)-sprayed CrC-based materials has mostly focused on conventional CrC-25NiCr composition. In this paper, two alternative compositions (CrC-50NiCrMoNb and CrC-37WC-18NiCoCrFe) were sprayed with high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) and HVAF spray processes to evaluate the material behavior during spraying and to provide characterization of the microstructures and mechanical properties of the coatings. For comparison, coatings from the CrC-25NiCr composition were sprayed with both processes. Spray diagnostics were carried out to obtain average particle velocity and temperature for each material and process combinations. The measured average in-flight particle data were 1800 °C and 700 m/s for HVOF process, and 1450 °C and 900 m/s for HVAF process. Characterization of the coating microstructures was carried out by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. In addition, the carbon content of the feedstock powders and sprayed coatings was measured with carbon analyzer. The results show that carbide rebounding or selective deposition of particles with higher metal matrix content is the dominating reason for carbide loss during HVAF spraying, while carbide dissolution is an additional source for the HVOF spraying. Higher particle velocities and controlled temperature measured for the HVAF process produced dense coatings with improved toughness and more homogenous coating structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a novel single cathode plasma column design consisting of a patented arc constrictor and its impact on process stability, versatility, and component life. The design aims to minimize the re-strike of arc, increase the arc length enabling high voltage and low amp operation as well as the use of ternary gas combination to increase the enthalpy. The arc unsteadiness and dynamic behavior are investigated through the fluctuations of electrical signals. Further, the particle velocity and temperature have been characterized by commercial diagnostics systems. The takeover/steady mode appears to be the typical operational mode of the plasma jet in this design. Low amplitude and high frequency fluctuations resulted in steady particle characteristics. Further, the design allowed the gun to operate at very high plasma velocities reaching the characteristics of an HVOF jet. The significance of the design is demonstrated through operational flexibility and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An integrated investigation approach for temperature measurement and control of plasma sprayed coating is presented in this paper. It is based on infrared (IR) pyrometry combined with specific robot scanning trajectories. The temperature evolution was continuously detected and recorded during preheating, spraying, and cooling stages. Then the two specific factors, periodic average temperature and periodic standard deviation, were adopted to evaluate the temperature variation and the fluctuation of the thermal cycle relevant to one spraying period. These two factors were successful in describing the temperature variation during experimental processing sets. Moreover, the influence of processing parameters of Z-type robot spray trajectory, including spray distance, scanning velocity, and scanning step on coating temperature is experimentally researched and explained reasonably by comparing the two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hybrid spray process that combines arc spray with a high-velocity oxyfuel (HVOF)/plasma jet has recently demonstrated its effectiveness in deposition of functionally gradient coatings. This approach aims at exploiting the combined attributes of the arc-spray technique and the HVOF/air plasma spraying (APS) technique. This paper presents high-speed visualization and plume characterization of an arc/HVOF hybrid spray gun as well as a twin-wire arc-spray gun. The physics of atomization in the hybrid spray process is examined using a high-speed camera. A DPV/CPS-2000 (Tecnar, St-Bruno, QC, Canada) particle diagnostics sensor is used to measure particle velocity, temperature, size, and distribution. The influence of feed material, arc parameters, and HVOF parameters on the particle characteristics is presented. Differences in the in-flight characteristics between the hybrid and the twin-wire arc process are discussed aided by the observed atomization phenomena with the high-speed camera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to thermal spraying and presents the state of our current knowledge, as well as the following research or development needs: spraying heat sources, i.e., flame, high-velocity oxifuel flame (HVOF), detonation gun (D-Gun), and plasma torches; particle heat and momentum transfer (measurements and modeling), process on-line control, powder morphologies, and injection within the hot jet and reactions with environment; coating formation, i.e., particle flattening and solidification, splat layering, residual stresses, coating microstructure, and properties; and reliability and reproducibility of coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In plasma spraying, instabilities and fluctuations of the plasma jet have a significant influence on the particle in-flight temperatures and velocities, thus affecting the coating properties. This work introduces a new method to analyze the stability of plasma jets using high-speed videography. An approach is presented, which digitally examines the images to determine the size of the plasma jet core. By correlating this jet size with the acquisition time, a time-dependent signal of the plasma jet size is generated. In order to evaluate the stability of the plasma jet, this signal is analyzed by calculating its coefficient of variation cv. The method is validated by measuring the known difference in stability between a single-cathode and a cascaded multi-cathode plasma generator. For this purpose, a design of experiment, covering a variety of parameters, is conducted. To identify the cause of the plasma jet fluctuations, the frequency spectra are obtained and subsequently interpreted by means of the fast Fourier transformation. To quantify the significance of the fluctuations on the particle in-flight properties, a new single numerical parameter is introduced. This parameter is based on the fraction of the time-dependent signal of the plasma jet in the relevant frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cascaded arc plasma torches have now become mainstream in thermal spray industry incorporating both multiple and single cathode configurations. Although there are anecdotal descriptions available for cascaded arc torches in terms of enhanced melting capability and overall process reliability, a critical and direct comparison of material interaction between the two technologies (cascaded arc and conventional torch configurations) through robust scientific methods is not available. In this article, two commercially available APS torches, namely, the conventional torch (F4MB) and the cascaded arc plasma torch (Sinplex Pro), were compared in the same spray cell using the same control equipment by adopting a systematic set of experiments involving voltage measurements, particle behavior, deposit formation dynamics, and infrared-based spray footprint heat flux quantification. The analysis of the data has led to quantitative correlations between torch configurations. The powder loading study indicated the enhanced melting capability of cascaded arc at equivalent parameters along with expanded and more uniform particle temperature over larger feed rates. The combination of higher feed rate and melt efficiency leads to distinction in coating stress evolution and microstructure. The integrated measurements suggest a scaling parameter that can establish process equivalency parameters to guide the transition from conventional to cascade torches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In cold spraying, powder particles are accelerated by preheated supersonic gas stream to high velocities and sprayed on a substrate. The particle velocities depend on the equipment design and process parameters, e.g., on the type of the process gas and its pressure and temperature. These, in turn, affect the coating structure and the properties. The particle velocities in cold spraying are high, and the particle temperatures are low, which can, therefore, be a challenge for the diagnostic methods. A novel optical online diagnostic system, HiWatch HR, will open new possibilities for measuring particle in-flight properties in cold spray processes. The system employs an imaging measurement technique called S-PTV (sizing-particle tracking velocimetry), first introduced in this research. This technique enables an accurate particle size measurement also for small diameter particles with a large powder volume. The aim of this study was to evaluate the velocities of metallic particles sprayed with HPCS and LPCS systems and with varying process parameters. The measured in-flight particle properties were further linked to the resulting coating properties. Furthermore, the camera was able to provide information about variations during the spraying, e.g., fluctuating powder feeding, which is important from the process control and quality control point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative in-flight measurements of particles plasma sprayed by F4 and Triplex II guns were carried out using the diagnostic systems DPV-2000 and Accuraspray-g3. The comparison of mean particle velocities and temperatures as well as intensity profiles of the plume show a good agreement confirming their accuracy. However, the varying operating principles especially the deceased dimensions of the measurement volumes have to be considered carefully when evaluating the results. Furthermore, some applications of the diagnostic systems DPV-2000 and Accuraspray-g3 are shown. Finally some application limits, which were identified for certain powder compositions at higher plasma power levels will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four high velocity thermal spray guns were evaluated in the production of 10% Co-4% Cr tungsten carbide (WC) cermets. Three high velocity oxygen fuel guns (JP-5000, JP-5000ST, and Diamond Jet [DJ]-2700) and one plasma gun (Axial III) were used to spray the same angular, agglomerated, and crushed WC-10Co-4Cr powder. The DPV-2000 was used to monitor the in-flight velocity and temperature of the WC cermet-sprayed particles. From those values, spray conditions were selected to produce coatings that were evaluated in terms of porosity, hardness, and deposition efficiency. Results show that the plasma Axial III provides the highest particle temperature, between 2000 °C and 2600 °C, depending on the spray conditions. The JP-5000 imparts the highest velocity to the particles, between 550 and 700 m/s, depending on the spray conditions. The ST version of the JP-5000 provides the same velocity as the standard version but with lower particle temperature. The DJ-2700 sprays particles with temperature and velocity between those of the JP-5000 and the Axial III. Minimum porosity values of 2.1%, 3.7%, and 5.3%, respectively, were obtained for the JP-5000, the DJ-2700, and the Axial III guns. The porosity and carbide degradation are found to depend mostly on the particle velocity and temperature, respectively. The values for the Vickers microhardness number (200g) ranged from 950 to 1250. Measurements of the deposition efficiency indicated a variation between 10% and 80%, depending on the spray conditions and the gun used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The control over coating quality in plasma spraying is partly dependent on the arc and jet instabilities of the plasma torch. Different forms of instabilities have been observed with different effects on the coating quality. We report on an investigation of these instabilities based on high-speed end-on observation of the arc. The framing rate of 40,500 frames per second has allowed the visualization of the anode attachment movement and the determination of the thickness of the cold-gas boundary layer surrounding the arc. The images have been synchronized with voltage traces. Data have been obtained for a range of arc currents, and mass flow rates for different gas injectors and for anodes displaying different amounts of wear. The analysis of the data has led to quantitative correlations between the cold-gas boundary layer thickness and the instability mode for the range of operating parameters. The arc instabilities can be seen to enhance the plasma jet instabilities and the cold-gas entrainment. These results are particularly useful for guiding plasma torch design and operation in minimizing the influence of plasma jet instabilities on coating properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural instability of the are in direct current (DC) plasma torches used in spray processing is one of the most important causes for variations in heating of sprayed particles, leading to inconsistencies in the final coating quality. A relatively simple diagnostic system has been set up to monitor the plasma jet instability, as well as some important process characteristics. Effects of the operating parameters and the anode condition on properties of plasma jets, particle properties, and coatings have been measured. These results show that the inconsistency caused by the jet instability influences the plasma spray process in several ways. The coating porosity and the deposition efficiency can be correlated to an average jet length obtained from a series of high speed images. Selected frequency peaks in the power spectrum of the acoustic signal are correlated with the average jet length, and these results are used to derive a simple control scheme, which adopts a fuzzy look-up model indicating the condition of the anode. Increasing the are current is the most effective way to counteract the negative effects of anode erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]