Progress in Plasma Processing of Materials, 2003

ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-192-1

ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-447-2

STUDY OF THE INJECTION OF A ZIRCONIA SUSPENSION IN A D.C PLASMA JET

DOI: 10.1615/ITPPC-2002.650
pages 523-533

Abstract

A new thermal spray process is under development in order to produce thin coatings (thickness lower than 50 µm), with a fine microstructure (grain size smaller than 1 µm). This process consists in injecting in a Direct Current (D.C.) plasma jet a suspension containing submicronic particles of the material to be deposited. To study the interaction between plasma and suspension, a system based on a pendulum allows collecting particles at different distances from the injection point. In a previous study with an alumina suspension, it was shown that at short distances splats could be observed and at long distances only spheroidized particles were collected. In this paper, the injection of a zirconia suspension is studied.