Influence of In-Flight Particle Characteristics on the Forming Quality

Abstract

There are many technical parameters influencing on the coating quality in plasma spray forming which has become an important technology in materials processing. In this study, the relationships between the melting state, in-flight property of particles injected into plasma jet and the forming quality have been investigated. The experimental results show that the temperature field distributions of plasma jet are mainly affected by plasma generator power though CCD imaging and gray-scale processing. The velocity of in-flight particle is directly determined by the flow rate of work gas, and the surface temperature of in-flight particle is obviously affected by assisted gas rate. It is clear that the energy coupling and momentum transferring between plasma and particle have a significant influence on deposition efficiency, porosity, microhardness and microstructure of spray-formed parts, and it also provides a good idea to control the forming quality on-line.