Characterization of Mechanical Properties and the Abrasive Wear of Thermal Spray Coatings

Abstract

Thermal spray is a generic term used to define a group of coating processes used to apply both metallic and non-metallic coatings. These coatings are usually defined by their hardness, strength, porosity, roughness, and wear resistance. In this chapter, the authors turn their attention to the mechanical and tribological properties of thermal spray coatings. The individual phase plays a very important role in determining the performance of the coating. However, evaluating the mechanical and tribological properties at a nano-level requires new test methods and their validation. In this chapter, elaborate discussion of some techniques to evaluate and analyze the mechanical and tribological properties of different thermal spray coatings is done. This chapter is intended to help the reader to firstly understand the basic principle and methods of characterization of thermal spray coatings using instrumented nanoindentation, nanoscratch, abrasive wear testing techniques, and secondly to get an idea of the recent techniques and review the research and development in the same field.