A comparative study of three adhesion tests (EN 582, similar to ASTM C633, LASAT (LASer Adhesion Test), and bulge and blister test) performed on plasma sprayed copper deposited on aluminium 2017 substrates

The aim of this study was to compare three adhesion tests carried out on plasma-sprayed copper coatings on aluminium substrates. The first test, the bond pull test, designated EN 582 or ASTM C633, involves a uniaxial static stress and is commonly used in the coating industry. The second test, the LASAT (LASer Adhesion Test), is a recently developed technique based on spallation phenomenon due to laser induced shock waves. In this test, the coating delamination results from spallation at the coating/substrate interface due to uniaxial tensile stress. The last test, the bulge and blister test, involves a quasi-static measurement of the crack propagation energy at the coating/substrate interface. These three techniques have been used to evaluate the influences of different process parameters involved in the coating adhesion such as aluminium surface roughness, substrate pre-heating and plasma spray conditions.