Dimitris K. Christoulis

Laser-Assisted Cold Spray (LACS)

Resume du livre : Discovered almost fifty years ago at Bell Labs (1964), the Nd:YAG laser has undergone an enormous evolution in the years, being now widely used in both basic research and technological applications. Nd:YAG Laser covers a wide range of topics, from new systems (diode pumping, short pulse generation) and components (a new semiorganic nonlinear crystal) to applications in material processing (coating, welding, polishing, drilling, processing of metallic thin films), medicine (treatment, drug administration) and other various fields (semiconductor nanotechnology, plasma spectroscopy, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy).

Lasers and Thermal Spray

Basically, thermal spray and laser processing can be considered as half brothers since they show many common features due to the use of a (more or less) high-energy source for both. Their combination can therefore be very fruitful and prominent to achieve coatings, which results in their most recent and advanced applications. In the materials processing development story, the laser will thus have moved from cutting to coating. This keynote presentation focuses on the recently-developed coupling of laser processing to cold spray). In this dual process, a cold spray gun is combined to a laser head in a single device, e.g. on a robot. Series of coating experiments using various laser irradiation conditions, primarily pulse frequency, were carried out for Al-based and Ni-based alloys. Laser pre-treatment of the substrate just prior to cold spray, was shown to be beneficial for adhesion of cold-sprayed coatings. Adhesion improvement was exhibited and studied from LASATesting (LASAT for “LAser Shock Adhesion Test”). Incidentally, through LASAT also, the role of lasers in the development of thermally-sprayed coatings can be considered as major. Results are discussed in the light of a TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) study of the coating-substrate interface with and without laser pre-treatment.

Effect of substrate preparation on flattening of plasma sprayed aluminium bronze powders

Abstract Plasma spray coatings are produced by introducing powder particles of the material into a plasma plume, which melts and forwards them to the substrate. The flattening process of these individual molten droplets is one of the most critical factors as the coating quality strongly depends on the deposition of individual particles. Powders of aluminium bronze, a fine (−53 + 11 μ m) and a coarse one (−125 + 45 μm) were plasma sprayed onto stainless steel substrates (AISI 304L) under atmospheric condition with three different substrate temperatures (25, 165 and 270°C). Two different ranges of surface roughness Ra were used: mirror polished substrates with about 0·01–0·03 μm and grit blasted substrates with about 1·89–2·43 μm. A scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectrometry system and an electron probe microanalysis, were used in order to study the splat morphology and the chemical composition of the splats.

Microstructural Study of Copper and Copper/Alumina Composite Coatings Produced by Cold Spray Process

Cold spraying is a novel coating method, by which many composites have been successfully sprayed. The objective of this study was to thoroughly characterize the microstructure of copper as well as copper/alumina composite coatings obtained using this technique. Composite coatings which differed to the percentage of Al2O3 in the initial powder blend as well as the Al2O3 particle size were studied. Coatings presented Ra of the order of 6-8 μm, with the copper coating having the highest value. Using optical microscopy the deformation of the copper particles of the cross sections was evident. Thickness ranged from 170 to 450 μm for the different coatings. The surfaces and the cross sections of the coatings were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy. Craters and Al2O3 particles that were embedded in the copper particles were observed. The XRD analysis of the powders and the respective coatings presented no differences.