Enhancement of Functional Ceramic Coating Performance by Gas Tunnel Type Plasma Spraying

A high-precision plasma system has been pursued for advanced thermal processing. The gas tunnel type plasma jet device developed by the author exhibits high energy density and also high efficiency. Among its various applications is the plasma spraying of ceramics such as Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂. The performance of these ceramic coatings is superior to conventional ones. Properties such as the mechanical and chemical properties of the zirconia coatings were reported in previous studies. In this study, the enhancement of the performance of functional ceramic coatings by the gas tunnel type plasma spraying method was carried out using different powders. Results show that the alumina/zirconia composite system exhibited improvements of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The alumina/zirconia composite coating has the potential for use as a high functionally graded thermal barrier coating. Another application of the gas tunnel type plasma is for surface modification of metals. As an example, TiN films were formed in 5 s and, thick TiN coatings were easily obtained by gas tunnel type plasma reactive spraying.