Surface Engineering

Subject Code: PI-607

Unit-III: Surface Coatings

Part-II (Thermal Spray Processes)

By
Dr. Tushar Banerjee
Assistant Professor
Production & Industrial Engineering
NIT Jamshedpur
 Thermal Spray Processes
• Thermal spray techniques are coating processes in which melted (or heated)
materials are sprayed onto a surface.
• The coating source material also known as ‘feedstock’ is heated by electrical
(plasma or arc) or chemical means (combustion flame).
• Thermal spraying can produce thick coatings (20 micron to several millimetres
depending on the process and feedstock) over a large area at high deposition
rate as compared to other coating processes.
• Coating materials that can be deposited include metals, ceramics, plastics and
composites. They are fed in wire or powder form, heated to a molten or semi-
molten state and accelerated towards the substrate in the form of
micrometre-size particles.
• Combustion or electrical arc discharge is usually used as the source of energy
for thermal spraying.
• Resulting coatings are made by the accumulation of numerous sprayed
particles. The substrate may not heat up significantly, allowing the coating of
flammable substances.
• Coating quality is usually assessed by measuring its porosity, oxide content,
macro and micro-hardness, bond strength and surface roughness. Generally
the coating quality increases with increasing particle velocity. 2
Fig. 1. Thermal coating process
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Schematic cross-section of a thermally sprayed layer

Fig. 2. Schematic cross-section of thermally sprayed layer

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Mechanisms of Coating-Substrate Adhesion for Thermal Spray
Coatings

Fig. 3. Mechanisms of coating-substrate adhesion for thermal spray coatings

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 Combustion Method
Flame Spraying with Powder Feedstock

(6)

(2)
(1)

(3)

(5)

Fig. 4. Flame spraying with powder feedstock

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 Combustion Method
Flame Spraying with Wire Feedstock

(4)

Fig. 5. Flame spraying with wire feedstock

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 Principle of Flame Spraying
In a flame spraying torch, the chemical energy of combustion of
the fuel gas in oxygen is used to generate a hot flame (Fig. 4 &
5). The gas inlet is axial (1) and powder (2) can be introduced
axially or perpendicularly to the torch (3). Rods and wires (4) can
be used instead of powder. The particles become molten in the
flame (5) and accelerated in the direction of the workpiece (6).

In the torch used to spray wires or rods. The flame melts the end
of the wire/rod (4) which becomes atomized by compressed air to
form droplets. These form a stream and are propelled towards the
substrate.

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 Process Parameters of Flame Spraying
• Working gas composition: oxygen-to-fuel ratio might vary from 1:1 to 1.1:1, which
results in a carburizing or oxidizing atmosphere, respectively.
• Flame temperatures are in the range from 3000 to 3350 K.
• Flame velocities are in the range from 80 to 100 m/s.
• Powder chemical properties: chemical composition, element distribution, crystal
phases and their distribution. Although metals, alloys and ceramics are used in most
applications, polymers can also be sprayed
• Particles morphology: a spherical shape is desired in order to facilitate powder
handling
• Particles size distribution: a narrow distribution is desirable in order to improve
spraying efficiency
• Particles sizes: usually in the range 5–100 μm
• Feed rate: varies from 50 to 100 g/min
• Rods or wires material
- Rods are ceramics, such as, Al2O3, Al2O3+TiO2, TiO2, Cr2O3 etc.
- Wires are metals, such as, Mo, Zn and Al or alloys, such as, brass and stainless
steel
• Rods or wire diameter ranges from 3 to 6 mm
• Feed rate: varies from 40 to 650 g/min, with the resulting deposition
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• efficiency of a 100 μm coating varying from 1 to 23 m2/h.
 Process Parameters of Flame Spraying
• Injection direction:
– Radial: in older types of torches.
– Axial: in modern types of torches
• Carrier gas flow rate: 3 to 5 slpm
• Spray distance is in the range 120–250 mm
• Spray atmosphere is air

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 Combustion Method
High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF)

Fig. 6. High velocity oxy-fuel process

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 Principle of HVOF Spraying
In the HVOF process (Fig. 6.), the fuel gas or liquid is introduced
into the combustion chamber together with oxygen. An ignition
initiates the combustion and the exhaust gas, formed by a nozzle,
passes through a barrel and emerges into the open atmosphere.
The powder is introduced radially or axially into the jet. The
combustion chamber, nozzle and barrel are intensively cooled by
water. The speed of sound is reached at the exit of the torch.

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 Process Parameters of HVOF Spraying
• The working medium is oxygen in the gaseous form and fuel, such as:
- Hydrocarbon gases, e.g. among others, ethylene, propylene, propane and
natural gas, being a mixture of many hydrocarbons with some ‘non-hydrogen
components
- Hydrocarbon liquids, such as kerosene
• Pressure in the combustion chamber: 0.3 to 4 MPa
• Powder type: the most used powders are composites with carbide reinforcements
and metal or alloy matrices.
• Particle sizes are usually in the range 5–45 μm
• The injection direction is:
– radial inside the barrel
– axial into the combustion chamber
• Powder feed rate is in the range 20 to 120 g/min
• Carrier gas is nitrogen or argon
• Spray distance is in the range 150 to 300 mm. This distance is a bit larger than those
found during plasma spraying because of the high convective heating of the
substrate

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 Electrical Method
Plasma Spraying

(3)

(6)
(4)

(5)
(1)
(2)

Fig. 7. Plasma spraying process

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 Principle of Plasma Spraying
The plasma generator, depicted in Fig. 7, consists of a circular
anode (1), usually of copper, and a cathode of thoriated tungsten
(2). The cathode is made of graphite in a water-stabilized torch.
The electric arc discharge, supported by a generator through the
connectors (3, 4) heats up the working gases (5), which expand in
the atmosphere, forming a jet. The powder (6), suspended in a
carrier gas, is injected into the jet. The particles of the powder
after being melted and accelerated in the jet impact the substrate
and form the coating.

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Process Parameters of Plasma Spraying
• Working gases composition: typically Ar or mixtures of Ar+ H2, Ar+ He and Ar+N2,
sometimes N2 and a mixture of N2 +H2 (Ar stabilizes the arc inside a nozzle, He, N2
or H2 enhance the heat transfer to the particles, due to their high heat conductivity)
• Typical flow rate being about 40 to 50 slpm but in some installations it may reach
80 slpm
• Electric power is up to 80 kW in typical plasma torches, but can reach 200kW in a
water-stabilized torch
• Particles sizes are usually in the range 20–90 μm
• Powder type: the most used powders are oxide ceramics
• Injection ports: most often one, although sometimes two or three multiple injectors
enable the spraying of composite coatings
• Powder feed rate is typically in the range of 50 to 100 g/min
• Carrier gas flow rate is in the range 3 to 10 slpm
• Spray distance is in the range 60 to 130 mm
• Spray atmosphere is air
• Post-spraying treatment is used to improve coating density and other properties.
The methods of treatment are as follows.
(i) Furnace annealing
(ii) Laser treatment 17
 High Pressure Gas Jet Method
Cold Gas Spraying or Cold Spraying

Fig. 8. Cold Spraying Process

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 Principle of Cold Spraying
A typical cold-spraying system is shown schematically in Fig. 8.
The gas, typically N2 or He, is compressed to 3.5 MPa and heated
to 873K by a heating coil. After introduction to a convergent–
divergent nozzle (de Laval nozzle), the working gas expands to
reach ‘supersonic velocities’. The powder is injected into the
nozzle ‘throat’ and its particles are accelerated to high velocities
and heated to temperatures well below the melting point. The
high velocity particles impact the substrate surface and form the
coating.

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 Process Parameters of Cold Spraying
• Working gas chemical composition: air, N2, He and their mixtures.
• Working gas flow rate: 18–20 g/s
• Nozzle: The nozzle has a converging–diverging profile (‘de Laval’). The hot gas has
sonic velocities in the convergent region and supersonic velocities in the divergent
region.
• Selection criteria of powder: Only the powders of materials than can deform plastically
can be sprayed by using present CGSM installations. As ceramics do not deform in this
way and polymers do not represent any interest for processing by cold spraying, the
remaining class of materials corresponds to metals and alloys. Metals of one crystal
structure have similar deformation behaviour. The following groups of metals can be
distinguished
• - f.c.c.-structure metals, such as Al, Cu, Ag, Au, Pt, Ni and γ-Fe
- b.c.c.-structure metals, such as W, Ta, Mo, Nb, V, Cr, α-Fe and β-Ti
- h.c.p.-structure metals, such as Cd, Zn, Co, Mg and Ti
The f.c.c. metals have a large number of sliding planes which explains their good
deformability. The h.c.p. metals have lesser deformability, while the b.c.c. metals have the
lowest deformability. Another indicator of sprayability is the melting point. The low value of
Tm is beneficial for the ability to spray. On the other hand, materials that harden under
mechanical stress, such as the stainless steel 317 L or the alloy TiAl8V4, are difficult to
spray. In practice, the most popular material sprayed by CGSM is Cu. Important
technological metals and alloys, such as Ta, NiCr, NiCrAlY or CuAl, have been successfully
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processed by this technique.
 Process Parameters of Cold Spraying
• Particle size: in the range of 5–20 μm
• Particle temperatures and velocities: values of Tp = 500 K and Vp = 600 m/s were
calculated for Cu particles of 15 μm size.
• Powder injection is axial in most installations

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Thank You

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