Xianglin Zhou

Oxidation and hot corrosion behaviors of HVAF-sprayed conventional and nanostructured NiCrC coatings

The oxidation and hot corrosion behaviors of HVAF-sprayed conventional and nanostructured NiCrC coatings were studied. The oxidation experiment was conducted in air, and the hot corrosion was conducted in the Na2SO4-30%K2SO4 environment, in the temperature range of 550-750℃ for periods up to 160 h. The corrosion kinetics was tested with the thermogravimetric method. The corrosion products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). As indicated by the results, both types of coatings possess high corrosion resistance, especially the nanostructured NiCrC coating. The enhanced grain boundary diffusion in the nanostructured coating not only promotes the formation of a denser Cr2O3 scale with a higher rate, but also helps to mitigate the Cr depletion at the metal/scale interface. The less porosity of the nanostructured coating is also thought to be beneficial to the anti-corrosion properties.

Residual Stress Analysis of Cold-Sprayed Copper Coatings by Numerical Simulation

In this paper, an analysis on the residual stress evolution of cold-sprayed copper coatings on Cu and Al substrates was performed. To investigate the influences of particle velocity, temperature and material combination on the final residual stresses, an integrated frame of calculation was proposed based on the simulation results obtained from the developed thermo-mechanically coupled Eulerian model. In a single Cu splat, generally speaking, the maximum residual stress and plastic deformation are concentrated at the outside contact zone rather than at the center point of initial impact. The action of friction shear between the particle and substrate during impacting should be considered as one of the essential factors on the final residual stress. And the states of residual stresses can vary significantly depending on the material combination, particle velocity, and temperature. In a single pass Cu coating, the residual stress fluctuates across the coating and there exists both compressive stress and tensile stress within the coating. At a certain range of impacting velocities, the resultant residual stresses increase with the increase of particle velocity. The present simulated results are related to the reported experiments by others, showing that the residual stress states and stress change trend are different from some of the reported results.

Deposition Behavior and Characteristics of Cold-Sprayed Cu-Cr Composite Deposits

In order to explore the feasibility of cold spraying as method to prepare Cu-Cr composite, the deposition behavior was analyzed. The results show that particles parameters, such as morphology, size distribution and deformability, result in different deposition behavior. For Cu, since plastic deformation easily occurs, when a Cu particle impacts Cu substrate, both particle and substrate at the interface undergo extensive deformation, resulting in the greater bond probability. Although the velocity of Cr is higher than that of Cu, Cr particles have lower bond probability because of its hardness and fragility. Cr particles are embedded in the Cu particles. The properties of Cu-15%Cr meet industrial standard, superior to the composite prepared by explosive compaction. The results reveal cold spraying can be considered as a suitable technology for Cu-Cr composite.

Fabrication of conventional and nanostructured NiCrC coatings via HVAF technique

The conventional and nanostructured NiCrC (with chemical composition of 80%NiCr-20%CrC) coatings with high quality were fabricated via high velocity air-fuel(HVAF) spraying technique. The microstructures of these coatings were characterized by means of metallographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. A Vickers microhardness tester was used to determine the mechanical properties of the as-sprayed coatings. The single-line approximation(SLA) method was employed to calculate the grain size and microstrain of as-sprayed nanostructured coating based on the XRD data. The results show that nanostructured NiCrC coating possesses a more uniform and denser microstructure, much higher microhardness and better fracture toughness than its conventional counterpart. Both TEM observation and calculation results based on XRD profile show that as-sprayed nanostructured NiCrC coating has a homogeneous nanocrystalline microstructure with an average grain size of 40 nm.

Nanocrystalline copper coatings produced by cold spraying

Copper powder was cryomilled for 12 hours to achieve particle size in the range of 2 μm to 25 μm, which powder was subsequently used as feedstock for the deposition of nanocrystalline (nc) Cu coating via cold spraying. The as-milled copper powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The particle size of the cryomilled Cu powder was detected by laser scattering. The microstructure of the coating was analyzed using SEM and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The XRD and HRTEM analysis showed that the grain size of the cryomilled Cu powder was about 5 to 40 nm. This nanoscale structure was retained after the cold spraying. The nanoindentation analysis showed that the nc Cu coating hardness value reached 3.3 GPa, which was higher than that of its coarse grained counterpart.

Synthesis of nanocrystalline NiCrC alloy feedstock powders for thermal spraying by cryogenic ball milling

Abstract Nanocrystalline NiCrC alloy powders with a qualified particle size distribution for thermal spraying were synthesized using the cryogenic ball milling (cryomilling) method. The morphology, microstructure, size distribution, and phase transformation of the powders were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser scattering for particle size analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After cryomilling for 20 h, the average grain size of the as-milled powders approached a constant value of 30 nm by XRD measurement. The average particle size slightly increased from 17.5 to 20.3 μm during the 20-h milling. About 90vol% of the powders satisfied the requirement for thermal spraying with the particle dimension of 10-50 μm, and most of the powders exhibited spherical morphology, which were expected to have good fluidity during thermal spraying. The Cr2O3 phase formed during the cryomilling process as revealed in the XRD spectra, which was expected to enhance the thermal stability of the as-milled powders during the followed thermal spraying or other heat treatment.

Thermal Stability of Nanostructured NiCrC Coating Prepared by HVAF Spraying of Cryomilled Powders

Thermal stability of nanostructured NiCrC coating prepared by high velocity air-fuel (HVAF) spraying of cryomilled feedstock powders was investigated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were utilized for characteristic analysis. Recrystallization and normal grain growth occur when isothermal treatment is performed at 923 K (0.55 T (subscript M)) for up to 100 h, and the average grain size increases from initial 41 nm for as-deposited state to around 100 nm for nearly equilibrium state. Isochronal treatment at 823 K and 1023 K was also conducted for comparison. Accordingly, for 0.49 to 0.61 T/T(subscript M), the time exponent n deduced from D(superscript 1/n)-D(superscript 1/n subscript 0)=kt increases from 0.15 to 0.30. The observed high thermal stability is attributed primarily to a Zener pinning mechanism arising from the fine Cr2O3, dispersions and the solute drag effect as well.