Per Nylén

Effect of grit blasting and spraying angle on the adhesion strength of a plasma-sprayed coating

A study of the effects of grit-blasting and plasma-spraying angles on the adhesion strength of an alloy (Tribaloy 800) that was plasma sprayed on a titanium-base alloy is reported. Five different spray and grit-blast angles were investigated: 45°, 55°, 65°, 75°, and 90°. The surface texture in different directions was characterized by the classic average roughness and by a fractal analysis number using a two-dimensional fractal analysis method. The grit residue was measured by an x-ray spectrometer. The study showed that the maximum adhesion strength was close to a 90° blasting and spraying angle. However, the grit residue reaches its maximum at a 75° blasting angle. From the image analysis of the interface in different directions, it was found that the nonperpendicular grit blasting produces an anisotropic surface. The fractal analysis method showed a rather good correlation with the blasting angle. However, no good correlation between the fractal number and the adhesion strength was found.

Characterization of Microstructure and Thermal Properties of YSZ Coatings Obtained by Axial Suspension Plasma Spraying (ASPS)

The paper aims at demonstrating various microstructures which can be obtained using the suspension spraying technique and their respective significance in enhancing the thermal insulation property of a thermal barrier coating. Three different types of coating microstructures are discussed which were produced by the Axial Suspension Plasma Spraying. Detailed characterization of coatings was then performed. Optical and scanning electron microscopy were utilized for microstructure evaluations; x-ray diffraction for phase analysis; water impregnation, image analysis, and mercury intrusion porosimetry for porosity analysis, and laser flash analysis for thermal diffusivity measurements were used. The results showed that Axial Suspension Plasma Spraying can generate vertically cracked, porous, and feathery columnar-type microstructures. Pore size distribution was found in micron, submicron, and nanometer range. Higher overall porosity, the lower density of vertical cracks or inter-column spacing, and higher inter-pass porosity favored thermal insulation property of the coating. Significant increase in thermal diffusivity and conductivity was found at higher temperature, which is believed to be due to the pore rearrangement (sintering and pore coarsening). Thermal conductivity values for these coatings were also compared with electron beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD) thermal barrier coatings from the literature and found to be much lower.

Influence of Topcoat-Bondcoat Interface Roughness on Stresses and Lifetime in Thermal Barrier Coatings

Failure in Atmospheric Plasma-Sprayed (APS) thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) is associated with the thermo-mechanical stresses developing due to the thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer growth and thermal expansion mismatch during thermal cycling. The interface roughness has been shown to play a major role in the development of these induced stresses and lifetime of TBCs. Modeling has been shown as an effective tool to understand the effect of interface roughness on induced stresses. In the previous work done by our research group, it was observed that APS bondcoats performed better than the bondcoats sprayed with High Velocity Oxy-Fuel process which is contrary to the present literature data. The objective of this work was to understand this observed difference in lifetime with the help of finite element modeling by using real surface topographies. Different TGO layer thicknesses were evaluated. The modeling results were also compared with existing theories established on simplified sinusoidal profiles published in earlier works. It was shown that modeling can be used as an effective tool to understand the stress behavior in TBCs with different roughness profiles.

Models for the simulation of spray deposition and robot motion optimization in thermal spraying of rotating objects

In this paper we consider methods to simulate deposit build-up in thermal spraying and to optimize the robot motion so as to obtain the desired layer thickness. We derive a simplified mathematical ...

A computational fluid dynamic analysis of gas and particle flow in flame spraying

The flame spraying process, which is a common industrial thermal spraying application, has been analyzed by means of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The process used at the Volvo Aero Corporation for the coating of fan and compressor housings has been modeled. The process uses the Metco 6P torch (Metco, Westbury, NY), which ejects a mixture of acetylene and oxygen at high speed through a ring of 16 orifices to form the flame. A stream of argon gas flowing through an orifice in the center of the ring carries a powder of nickel-covered bentonite through the flame to the spray substrate. The torch is cooled by a flow of air through an outer ring of 9 orifices. The simulation emulated reality closely by including the individual inlets for fuel, cooling air, and injected particles. The gas combustion was simulated as a turbulent, multicomponent chemically reacting flow. The standard, two-equation k-ε turbulence model was used. The chemical reaction rates appeared as source terms in the species transport equations. They were computed from the contributions of the Arrhenius rate expressions and the Magnussen and Hjertager eddy dissipation model. The first simulations included several intermediate chemical substances whose predicted concentration agreed favorably with measurements. Later, more simplified simulations incorporated only the global chemical reaction involving the initial and the final products, with corrections to the thermal properties being made to account for the missing intermediaries. The gas velocity and temperature fields predicted by the later simulations compared satisfactorily to those predicted by the earlier, more elaborate, ones. Therefore, the final simulations, which incorporated injected particles, were conducted employing the simplified model with only the global reaction. An in-house finite difference code was developed to calculate particle properties. Allowance was made for elliptical shapes, phase changes, and internal heat transfer with regard to the composite material. The particle velocities and temperatures predicted by the final simulations compared fairly well with experimental results obtained with the optical DPV2000 system.

Investigation of particle in-flight characteristics during atmospheric plasma spraying of yttria stabilized ZrO2: Part 2. modeling

Yttria stabilized ZrO2 particle in-flight characteristics in an Ar-H2 atmospheric plasma jet have been studied using analytical and experimental techniques. In the previous article,[1] the primary gas flow, plasma composition, current, and powder feed rate were systematically varied and particle surface temperatures, velocities, and size distributions measured and statistically analyzed. In this paper, a mathematical model for the plasma flow and particle characteristics is presented. Model predictions are compared with the experimental results in Ref 1 and a reasonable correlation is found. A statistical investigation (composite cubic face (CCF)) is performed on the particle predictions, giving fast and simple relationships between gun parameters and particle in-flight properties. The statistical and theoretical models that are presented here combine to form a powerful and cost-effective tool, which can be used in the evaluation and optimization of spray parameters off-line.

Influence of Microstructure on Thermal Properties of Axial Suspension Plasma-Sprayed YSZ Thermal Barrier Coatings

Suspension plasma spraying is a relatively new thermal spaying technique to produce advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) and enables production of coatings with a variety of structures—highly dense, highly porous, segmented, or columnar. This work investigates suspension plasma-sprayed TBCs produced using axial injection with different process parameters. The influence of coating microstructure on thermal properties was of specific interest. Tests carried out included microstructural analysis, phase analysis, determination of porosity, and pore size distribution, as well as thermal diffusivity/conductivity measurements. Results showed that axial suspension plasma spraying process makes it possible to produce various columnar-type coatings under different processing conditions. Significant influence of microstructural features on thermal properties of the coatings was noted. In particular, the process parameter-dependent microstructural attributes, such as porosity, column density, and crystallite size, were shown to govern the thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of the coating.

Relationships Between Process Parameters, Microstructure, and Adhesion Strength of HVOF Sprayed IN718 Coatings

Fundamental understanding of relationships between process parameters, particle in-flight characteristics, and adhesion strength of HVOF sprayed coatings is important to achieve the high coating adhesion that is needed in aeronautic repair applications. In this study, statistical Design of Experiments (DoE) was used to identify the most important process parameters that influence adhesion strength of IN718 coatings sprayed on IN718 substrates. Special attention was given to the parameters combustion ratio, total gas mass flow, stand-off distance and external cooling, since these parameters were assumed to have a significant influence on particle temperature and velocity. Relationships between these parameters and coating microstructure were evaluated to fundamentally understand the relationships between process parameters and adhesion strength.

Instructor Based Training Versus Computer Based Training--A Comparative Study.

This article describes two studies conducted to compare assembly performance and learning rate between computer based training and traditional training of skilled assembly operators. The studies were performed with pre-series production parts from a car cockpit and they were integrated as part of the overall training activities during a new vehicle product launch. The computer based training tool used was a desktop based commercial VR tool with focus on cognitive interactive procedural learning. Both studies indicate that computer based training can replace instructor based training for this level of assembly complexity and that it has a positive effect in preparing skilled operators.

Thermal Conductivity in Suspension Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings : Modeling and Experiments

Axial suspension plasma spraying (ASPS) can generate microstructures with higher porosity and pores in the size range from submicron to nanometer. ASPS thermal barrier coatings (TBC) have already shown a great potential to produce low thermal conductivity coatings for gas turbine applications. It is important to understand the fundamental relationships between microstructural defects in ASPS coatings such as crystallite boundaries, porosity etc. and thermal conductivity. Object-oriented finite element (OOF) analysis has been shown as an effective tool for evaluating thermal conductivity of conventional TBCs as this method is capable of incorporating the inherent microstructure in the model. The objective of this work was to analyze the thermal conductivity of ASPS TBCs using experimental techniques and also to evaluate a procedure where OOF can be used to predict and analyze the thermal conductivity for these coatings. Verification of the model was done by comparing modeling results with the experimental thermal conductivity. The results showed that the varied scaled porosity has a significant influence on the thermal conductivity. Smaller crystallites and higher overall porosity content resulted in lower thermal conductivity. It was shown that OOF could be a powerful tool to predict and rank thermal conductivity of ASPS TBCs.