Engineering the Microstructure of Solution Precursor Plasma-Sprayed Coatings

This study examines the fundamental reactions that occur in-flight during the solution precursor plasma spraying (SPPS) of solutions containing Zr- and Y-based salts in water or ethanol solvent. The effect of plasma jet composition (pure Ar, Ar-H-2 and Ar-He-H-2 mixtures) on the mechanical break-up and thermal treatment of the solution, mechanically injected in the form of a liquid stream, was investigated. Observation of the size evolution of the solution droplets in the plasma flow by means of a laser shadowgraphy technique, showed that droplet break-up was more effective and solvent evaporation was faster when the ethanol-based solution was injected into binary or ternary plasma gas mixtures. In contrast with water-based solutions, residual liquid droplets were always detected at the substrate location. The morphology and structure of the material deposited onto stainless steel substrates during single-scan experiments were characterised by SEM, XRD and micro-Raman spectroscopy and were shown to be closely related to in-flight droplet behaviour. In-flight pyrolysis and melting of the precursor led to well-flattened splats, whereas residual liquid droplets at the substrate location turned into non pyrolysed inclusions. The latter, although subsequently pyrolysed by the plasma heat during the deposition of entire coatings, resulted in porous "sponge-like" structures in the deposit.