| Abstract: | Radio frequency (RF) induction plasma was used to make free-standing depositionof molybdenum (Mo). The phenomena of particle melting, flattening, and stacking were inves-tigated. The effect of process parameters such as plasma power, chamber pressure, and spraydistance on the phenomena mentioned above was studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)was used to analyze the plasma-processed powder, splats formed, and deposits obtained. Exper-imental results show that less Mo particles are spheroidized when compared to the number ofspheroidized tungsten (W) particles at the same powder feed rate under the same plasma spraycondition. Molten Mo particles can be sufficiently flattened on substrate. The influence of theprocess parameters on the flattening behavior is not significant. Mo deposit is not as dense as Wdeposit, due to the splash and low impact of molten Mo particles. Oxidation of the Mo powderwith a large particle size is not evident under the low pressure plasma spray. |
