Suspension Plasma Spraying Coatings Research Articles

Fabrication and characterization of thermal barrier coatings for internal combustion engines via suspension plasma spray with high solid loading

Suspension plasma spraying (SPS) technique producing thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) with high porosity and good thermal shock resistance has great potential to improve the thermal efficiency of internal combustion (IC) engines. However, its wide usage is limited by the immature fabrication technology and low spraying efficiency. Therefore, this study optimized the SPS process with high solid loading and characterized the properties of the coating to obtain TBCs suitable for IC engines. Suspension composition optimization revealed that polyethylenimide (PEI) has the best dispersion effect, and a suspension with high solid loading of 35 wt% was obtained. Furthermore, the effects of the spraying distance, feeding speed and spraying power on the coating microstructure were investigated, and the porosity and thermal shock resistance of the coatings were characterized to determine the optimal spraying process. Thermal shock failure of SPS coatings primarily arises from the propagation of horizontal cracks originating from vertical intercolumn cracks. The SPS coating with a feathery columnar structure has the best thermal shock resistance. By optimizing the spraying process, a coating with porosity up to 24.16 %, bonding strength of 41.69 MPa, and good thermal shock resistance is successfully achieved.

Tailoring the porosity level of the suspension plasma sprayed coatings using a dual suspension injection system

This study investigated the feasibility of tailoring the porosity in suspension plasma sprayed (SPS) coatings using a dual suspension injection system. Two titanium dioxide water-based suspensions with different particle sizes were injected into the plasma jet through two injectors located at different radial distances from the exit of the plasma torch. By varying the spray parameters, the fraction of unmelted particles in the coatings coming from the injector located farther from the torch changed. The total porosity was evaluated to range from approximately 16 % to 36 %, and the variation was related principally to the gaps between the unmelted particles. Among the selected spray parameters, the suspension feed rate and distance between the injectors were found to have the most significant effect on increasing the porosity. The samples were analyzed using SEM, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy.

Erosion performance of suspension plasma spray thermal barrier coatings — A comparison with state of art coatings

Suspension plasma spray (SPS) thermal barrier coatings are currently at an early stage of industrial adoption. There remain questions about the performance of SPS columnar coatings under different engine environmental conditions as it may influence which established engine coatings can be replaced by SPS coatings. One particular area of concern has been the erosion resistance of SPS coatings.In this study a columnar SPS coating has been evaluated against three types of state of art air plasma spray coatings: conventional porous coating, high porosity coating and dense vertically cracked coating. Air-jet erosion testing was performed on coatings at a glancing angle of 30 degrees and with direct impact at 90 degrees. Coatings have been ranked according to their mass loss per unit erodent mass. Coatings were also evaluated for their microstructure, porosity content, hardness, and fracture toughness. The erosion damage created during testing has also been investigated using electron microscopy to observe the damage mechanism. The results of this study demonstrate that SPS coatings can outperform porous APS coatings in erosion resistance and could be considered a match for dense vertically cracked coatings. The SPS columnar coatings have shown a decreasing erosion rate with exposure time that suggest the influence of surface roughness on initial erosion behaviour.

Thermal Stability of YSZ Thick Thermal Barrier Coatings Deposited by Suspension and Atmospheric Plasma Spraying

Two types of segmentation-crack structured yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thick thermal barrier coatings (>500 μm, TTBCs) were deposited onto the stainless steel substrates using atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) and suspension plasma spraying (SPS) process, respectively. In this work, thermal aging behaviors, such as the microstructures, phase compositions, grain growth, and mechanical properties of APS TTBCs and SPS TTBCs, were systematically investigated. Results showed that both as-sprayed TTBCs exhibited a typical segmentation-crack structure in the through-thickness direction. APS coatings mainly comprised of larger columnar crystals, while a large number of smaller equiaxed grains existed in SPS coatings. Both of the coatings underwent tetragonal-monoclinic phase transformation after 155 °C/40 h heat treatment. The poorer phase stability of SPS TTBCs may have a connection with smaller grain size. Thermal-aged APS and SPS coatings exhibited a significant increase in H and E values with the rising of thermal aging temperature, and for the samples that thermal aged at 1550 °C, the H and E values increased sharply during initial stage then decreased after 80 h due to the phase decomposition. The segmented APS coatings had weak bonding between the lamellaes during thermal exposure, which caused the mean Vickers hardness value of APS TTBCs to be much lower than that of SPS TTBCs.

Microstructural, mechanical and tribological properties of finely grained Al2O3 coatings obtained by SPS and S-HVOF methods

In this work suspension-high velocity oxygen fuel spraying (S-HVOF) and suspension plasma spraying (SPS) were applied to produce Al2O3 coatings using home-made and commercial available Al2O3 water-based liquid feedstocks containing 40 wt% of submicrometer-sized raw powders. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in the microstructure, mechanical properties and tribological performance of the suspension sprayed coatings with these two techniques.The microstructure of SPS coatings was slightly porous with fine particles of sintered, non-melted powders entrapped between the well melted lamellas. On the contrary, the S-HVOF coatings were very homogeneous in terms of morphology and of very low porosity in range of 1 to 4 vol%. With initial α–Al2O3 powders, it was possible to spray α-phase rich coatings, both in the case of SPS and S-HVOF, as determined by X-ray diffraction, with up to 47 vol% of α–Al2O3 in the S-HVOF coating and about 62 vol% in SPS one. The microhardness, adhesion strength and dry sliding wear resistance testing showed a good performance of coatings sprayed by using liquid feedstocks, especially the S-HVOF sprayed ones. Finally, the influence of feedstock characteristics and spray process conditions on the mechanical and tribological properties was analyzed.

Changes in thermal conductivity and thermal shock resistance of YSZ-SiO2 suspension plasma spray coatings according to various raw material particle sizes

Recently, a technique for improving the thermal efficiency of automotive engines has received considerable attention, namely the application of thermal insulation coatings to automotive engine components to reduce heat loss. This study presents thermal shock resistance and related microstructural changes and thermal properties of 8 wt% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ)/SiO2 multi-compositional thermal insulation coatings with suspensions of various particle sizes, when subjected to suspension plasma spray. After 10,000 cycles of thermal shock testing of the coatings, it was found that different degradation behavior related to the different microstructure of the coatings was influenced by the particle sizes of the suspension. The thermal conductivity of the coatings was significantly reduced by increasing the distribution of the unmelted particles within the coating.

Effect of sprayed techniques on the surface microstructure and in vitro behavior of nano-HAp coatings.

Supersonic atmospheric plasma spray (SAPS) technique is a classical method which is employed to coat the carbon/carbon (C/C) composites by nano-hydroxyapatite (HAp) powders to decrease the biologically inert, hydrophobic drawbacks of substrate surfaces. In recent years, profiting from the promoting of energy conservation and environmental protection, more emphasis was placed on industrial manufacturing to simplify the experimental steps. This paper aims to study the preparation of nano-HAp coatings by suspension plasma spray (SPS) instead of the original SAPS technique. A denser, more uniform and less defective coating is successfully fabricated on C/C substrate using SPS technique. More important, fewer surface flaws in SPS coating could be observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which shows that the large drawbacks of the coating have disappeared during spraying process. Meanwhile, except for HAp, phase compositions of the SPS coating appear with slight calcium oxide (CaO, 0.8%) and tricalcium phosphate (TCP, 30.7%), and then all CaO as well as TCP phases transform into dicalcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA, 60.6%) after microwave-hydrothermal (MH) treatment. Thermal analysis (TG/DSC) reveals that SPS coating (97.51%) has a higher thermal stability than that of the SAPS coating (82.37%). Also, in comparison, the SPS coating after MH treatment (SPS-MH coating) exhibits better thermal properties (92.76%). In addition, compared to the SAPS and SPS coatings, due to the more flaw reduction and phase transformation, SPS-MH coating shows a better biological properties according to the surface microstructure in simulation body fluid (SBF) solution and cell spreading area on coating. The highest corrosion resistance with the current density of 3.9798×10-7 A/cm2 and a potential of 0.0419V is achieved for SPS-MH coating.

Porous architecture and thermal properties of thermal barrier coatings deposited by suspension plasma spray

Besides the intrinsic low heat transfer capability of material, the thermal insulation property of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) also relies on their microstructures. For better understanding the relationship between process parameters, porous architecture, and thermal properties of coatings, YSZ coatings were firstly manufactured by suspension plasma spray (SPS). Afterwards their total porosities were characterized by using the technique of X-ray transmission, the nano/submicro pores in those coatings were detected with Ultra-Small Angle X-ray Scattering (USAXS), and the thermal properties of coatings were measured using the laser flash method. The results indicated that: i) the porous architecture of SPS coatings can be tailored by adapting process parameters. ii) increasing total porosity is an effective means for reducing the heat transfer capability of SPS coatings. iii) nano/submicro pores have higher influence sensitivity on thermal properties than that of larger pores. Increasing the content of nano-submicro pores is therefore more effective for improving the thermal insulation property of SPS coatings. The potential of SPS technique for fabricating TBCs was discussed as well.

Sintering resistance of suspension plasma sprayed 7YSZ TBC under isothermal and cyclic oxidation

This study examines sintering resistance of a thermal barrier coating (TBC), composed of a 7YSZ suspension plasma sprayed (SPS) top coat (TC), an air plasma sprayed (APS) NiCoCrAl bond coat (BC), and an INCONEL 625 substrate, under isothermal and cyclic conditions with a peak temperature of 1080 °C for 400, 800, and 1300 h/cycles. Microstructure, phase composition and microstrain were examined using SEM and XRD. Mechanical properties of fracture toughness, hardness and elastic modulus were obtained using nano-indentation. Samples under cyclic conditions presented faster sintering rate than under isothermal condition due to larger compressive strain and frequent heating and cooling cycles. Faster degradation of mechanical properties due to sintering leads to shorter lifetime of SPS coating under cyclic conditions. Moreover, vertical cracks within SPS coatings reduces compressive stress leading to a greater lifetime as compared to APS coatings exposed to similar conditions.

Parametric Analysis and Modeling for the Porosity Prediction in Suspension Plasma-Sprayed Coatings

The porous architecture of suspension plasma-sprayed coatings has a significant influence on the coating performances and thus should be properly designed for the intended applications. In this study, YSZ coatings were manufactured by suspension plasma spray (SPS), and a parametric study was performed with five different process parameters: suspension mass load, original powder particle size, substrate surface topology, spray distance, and spray step. Afterward, the porosity of the as-prepared coatings was investigated by imaging and x-ray transmission technique. A multivariate analysis on the collected experimental data was carried out. The results indicated that: (1) The total porosity of SPS coatings increases with the decrease in suspension mass load, while it shows the opposite trend by decreasing the spray distance, original powder particle size, substrate roughness, and spray step; (2) The main factor affecting coating total porosity is spray distance. Finally, a predictive model for coating total porosity was developed and was verified by experiments. Control of total porosity by using the predictive model was presented and explained as well.

Investigation of CMAS Resistance of Sacrificial Suspension Sprayed Alumina Topcoats on EB-PVD 7YSZ Layers

Molten calcium–magnesium–aluminum–silicate (CMAS) mineral particles cause significant degradation of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) in aero-engines. One approach to protect the TBC coating against the CMAS attack is the application of a sacrificial coating on top of the TBC coating. In this work, Al2O3 coatings were deposited on EB-PVD 7YSZ layers using suspension plasma spraying (SPS) and suspension high velocity oxy-fuel spraying (SHVOF), in order to produce sacrificial topcoats with two different microstructures and porosity levels. The coating systems were tested under CMAS attack with one natural volcanic ash and two artificial CMAS powders by conducting infiltration tests at 1250 °C in the time intervals between 5 min and 10 h. It was found that the porosity and morphology of suspension sprayed alumina topcoats, the chemical composition of the deposits and the infiltration conditions strongly influence the CMAS infiltration, reaction kinetics and formation of the reaction products. While the porous SPS coatings offer limited resistance against CMAS infiltration, the dense SHVOF coatings show promising CMAS sealing behavior. Among the formed reaction products, only (Fe, Mg) Al spinel acted as an efficient barrier against CMAS infiltration. However, the formation of uniform spinel layers strongly depends on the pore morphology of the sacrificial coating and the CMAS chemistry.

On growth of suspension plasma-sprayed coatings deposited by high-enthalpy plasma torch

Introduction of suspension plasma spraying (SPS) brought novel coating microstructures unachievable by other thermal spraying techniques. Both columnar and dense layers are of particular interest for various applications. Deeper understanding of the coating buildup mechanisms is essential for tailoring of the coatings microstructure and properties. This paper contributes to elucidation of the buildup mechanisms with focus on high enthalpy plasma torches, in particular the hybrid water/argon-stabilized plasma torch WSP-H 500. The main differences between the formation of finely structured dense coatings and columnar coatings were studied for alumina and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) by comprehensive evaluation of individual splat formation, gradual coating growth, and geometrical characteristics of the deposits.It was clearly demonstrated that the coating microstructure is generally controlled by morphology of individual deposited splats which is influenced namely by formulation of the suspension and mean trajectory of the fragmented suspension droplets in the plasma jet, both influencing size, flattening ratio and thermal history of deposited splats.Larger droplets having proper thermal treatment provided miniature lamellae similar to conventional plasma spraying, eventually leading to the development of low porosity (dense) structures. With decreasing splat size and increasing distance from the plasma jet axis, coatings tended to develop more porous columnar structures. After characteristic number of deposition cycles, lateral growth of the columnar structures became saturated, i.e. the equivalent diameter of the columnar structures became stabilized at about 75 μm, when observed from the free-surface. Material deposited from the plasma fringes was only loosely bonded and could be easily blown away from the surface which explains absence of interpass porosity in the deposited coatings.

Anti-icing performance and durability of suspension plasma sprayed TiO2 coatings

Superhydrophobic coatings are a potential solution for mitigating the in-flight icing problem for aircraft. However, to develop a superhydrophobic coating which can be practically used for aircraft and that possesses sufficient durability is an ongoing challenge. In this work, superhydrophobic coatings are developed using suspension plasma spraying (SPS) as a flexible, versatile and scalable coating technique. The anti-icing and deicing performances of these SPS coatings are studied in icing wind tunnel experiments. Furthermore, the durability of these SPS coatings is tested in dry particle and cloud-sized water droplet erosion and icing/deicing cyclic tests. The capability of SPS superhydrophobic coatings to reduce ice accretion is comparable to that of commercial superhydrophobic coatings but perform better in deicing tests using heating. Additionally, compared to commercial superhydrophobic coatings, the SPS coatings demonstrate significantly better performance in dry particle and icing/deicing cyclic tests while showing comparable durability in cloud-sized water droplet erosion tests. It is also shown that in case of high intensity water erosion, when the superhydrophobicity of SPS coatings deteriorates, it can be restored using a simple and quick retreatment process due to the robustness of the hierarchical micro-textured TiO2 base coatings.

Axial Suspension Plasma Spraying: An ultimate technique to tailor Ti6Al4V surface with HAp for orthopaedic applications.

Dissolution of atmospheric plasma sprayed (APS) hydroxyapatite (HAp) coatings on Ti-6Al-4 V medical implants have always been a challenge to overcome in the field of biomedical industry. In the present work, an attempt has been made to develop a HAp coating using a novel thermal spray process called axial suspension plasma spraying (SPS), which leads to thin adherent coatings. Two HAp coatings fabricated by APS (P1 and P2) and four SPS HAp coatings (S1, S2, S3 and S4) produced with varying spraying parameters were characterized in terms of (1) microstructure, porosity, hardness, adhesion strength, contact angle and phase purity; (2) corrosion resistance in 10% Fetal bovine serum (FBS); (3) in-vitro cell adherence and cell viability using human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Amongst different APS and SPS coatings, P1 and S3 exhibited superior properties. S3 coating developed using SPS exhibited 1.3 times higher adhesion strength when compared to APS coating (P1) and 9.5 times higher corrosion resistance than P1. In addition, both S3 and P1 exhibited comparatively higher biocompatibility as evidenced by the presence of more than 92% viable hMSCs.

Sintering behavior of columnar thermal barrier coatings deposited by axial suspension plasma spraying (SPS)

During the last decade, Suspension Plasma Spraying (SPS) attracted a lot of interest as an alternative process to produce columnar Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs). In this study, columnar TBCs were deposited with SPS. After spraying, samples were isothermally annealed at 1373 K for 1 h, 3 h, 10 h and 50 h, respectively. Microstructures and mechanical properties of the ceramic coatings were investigated as a function of annealing time. Annealing resulted in healing of micro-cracks, coarsening of pores, growth of domain size, companied with a decrease of porosity within columns. The change of coating microstructure led to change of mechanical properties. In addition, residual stress in SPS coatings was also investigated. Furthermore, as-sprayed coatings and pre-annealed coatings were subjected to burner rig tests. Short time pre-annealing allowed to enhance thermal cycling lifetime of such SPS coatings. The thermal cycling results were related to microstructure modifications of coatings.

Experiments, Statistical Analysis, and Modeling to Evaluate the Porosity Influence in SPS Coatings

Suspension plasma spray (SPS) is far more complicated than conventional plasma spray and requires a deep knowledge about the influence of process parameters and their correlations. In this study, YSZ coatings were manufactured by SPS with six different process parameters such as plasma power, suspension mass load, original powder size, substrate surface topology, spray distance, and spray step. Afterward, the porosity of as-prepared coatings was investigated by image method and x-ray transmission technique. A multivariate analysis on the collected experimental data was carried out by employing mathematical statistics methods. The results showed that: (1) coating porosity has a negative correlation with plasma power and suspension mass load and a positive correlation with the original powder size, spray distance, spray step, and substrate roughness; (2) spraying distance is the main factor affecting to coating porosity, followed by suspension mass load and substrate surface roughness, respectively. A linear model for porosity prediction was developed and was verified by experiments. The mechanism by which process parameters influence coating porosity is also discussed.

Microstructure assessment of suspension plasma spraying coatings from multicomponent submicronic Y-TZP/Al2O3/SiC particles

In this research, Suspension Plasma Spraying (SPS) technique was used for the thermal deposition of a multicomponent mixture made up of an Y-TZP/Al2O3 matrix with SiC particles. Two suspensions of Y-TZP and Al2O3 with different SiC particles content (6 wt% and 12 wt%) were tested as feedstocks in the SPS process. Three stand-off distances were varied in order to assess coating microstructure and evaluate the presence of SiC in the final coatings. Coatings were characterised in terms of porosity, microstructure and phase distribution. The estimate of the amount of SiC in the coating was carried out by XRD technique.Findings showed typical cauliflower-like SPS microstructure which intensifies with stand-off distance. Coatings porosity varied significantly between 8% and 25% whereas minimum porosity was found for the intermedium stand-off distance of 40 mm.Microstructure analysis also revealed the presence of SiC particles in the coatings which was confirmed by EDX analysis, overall XRD tests as well as TG analysis. Finally, evaluation of SiC content in the final coatings by means of XRD analysis showed that most of SiC particles (c.a 80%) of the feedstocks were preserved in the final coatings.

The Influence of Heat Treatments on the Porosity of Suspension Plasma-Sprayed Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Coatings

Suspension plasma-sprayed coatings are produced using fine-grained feedstock. This allows to control the porosity and to achieve low thermal conductivity which makes the coatings attractive as topcoats in thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). Used in gas turbine applications, TBCs are exposed to high temperature exhaust gases which lead to microstructure alterations. In order to obtain coatings with optimized thermomechanical properties, microstructure alterations like closing of pores and opening of cracks have to be taken into account. Hence, in this study, TBC topcoats consisting of 4 mol.% yttria-stabilized zirconia were heat-treated in air at 1150 °C and thereafter the coating porosity was investigated using image analysis (IA) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) cryoporometry. Both IA and NMR cryoporometry showed that the porosity changed as a result of the heat treatment for all investigated coatings. In fact, both techniques showed that the fine porosity decreased as a result of the heat treatment, while IA also showed an increase in the coarse porosity. When studying the coatings using scanning electron microscopy, it was noticed that finer pores and cracks disappeared and larger pores grew slightly and achieved a more distinct shape as the material seemed to become more compact.

Influence of Bondcoat Spray Process on Lifetime of Suspension Plasma-Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings

Development of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) manufactured by suspension plasma spraying (SPS) is of high commercial interest as SPS has been shown capable of producing highly porous columnar microstructures similar to the conventionally used electron beam–physical vapor deposition. However, lifetime of SPS coatings needs to be improved further to be used in commercial applications. The bondcoat microstructure as well as topcoat–bondcoat interface topography affects the TBC lifetime significantly. The objective of this work was to investigate the influence of different bondcoat deposition processes for SPS topcoats. In this work, a NiCoCrAlY bondcoat deposited by high velocity air fuel (HVAF) was compared to commercial vacuum plasma-sprayed NiCoCrAlY and PtAl diffusion bondcoats. All bondcoat variations were prepared with and without grit blasting the bondcoat surface. SPS was used to deposit the topcoats on all samples using the same spray parameters. Lifetime of these samples was examined by thermal cyclic fatigue testing. Isothermal heat treatment was performed to study bondcoat oxidation over time. The effect of bondcoat deposition process and interface topography on lifetime in each case has been discussed. The results show that HVAF could be a suitable process for bondcoat deposition in SPS TBCs.

Improving the lifetime of suspension plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings

Development of thermal barrier coating systems (TBCs) for gas turbine applications allowing higher combustion temperatures is of high interest since it results in higher fuel efficiency and lower emissions. TBCs produced by suspension plasma spraying (SPS) have been shown to exhibit significantly lower thermal conductivity as compared to conventional systems due to their very fine porosity microstructure. However they have not been commercialised yet due to low reliability and life expectancy of the coatings.In addition to the initial topcoat microstructure and its sintering resistance, lifetime of a TBC system is highly dependent on bondcoat chemistry as it influences the growth rate of thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer. To enhance the lifetime of SPS TBCs, fundamental understanding of relationships between topcoat microstructure and its evolution with time, bondcoat chemistry, TGO growth rate, and lifetime is essential. The objective of this work was to study the effect of topcoat microstructure evolution and TGO growth rate on lifetime in SPS TBC systems. Experimental MCrAlY bondcoat powders with different aluminium activities were investigated and compared to a commercial bondcoat powder. High velocity air fuel spraying was used for bondcoat deposition while axial-SPS was used for yttria stabilized zirconia topcoat deposition. Lifetime was examined by thermal cyclic fatigue testing. Isothermal heat treatment was performed to study TGO evolution with time. The changes in microstructure of SPS coatings due to sintering under long term exposure at high temperatures were investigated. Different failure modes in SPS TBCs were also examined.The bondcoat with higher aluminium activity resulted in a significantly higher thermal cyclic lifetime of the corresponding TBC as it could have promoted protective alumina layer growth for a longer period of time. The results indicate that the significant changes in topcoat microstructure due to sintering as observed in this work could have a detrimental effect on TBC lifetime.