Tailor-made surface properties by thermal spraying

A Plasma and Thermal Coatings product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 21, 2000

Plasma and Thermal Coatings can now engineer any metallic or ceramic material specially produced in powder form and coat a base material giving tailor-made surface properties

When designing a component, material selection is one of the most basic and important considerations.

Strength, weight, conductivity and wear resistance are only a few of the properties that may be required.

What happens when the selected material lacks one vital surface characteristic such as a low friction, or resistance to chemical attack for example? When additional properties are required, Plasma and Thermal Coatings Ltd is able to offer a solution, either at the initial design stage, or as a modification.

With only a few exceptions, this South Wales Company will engineer any metallic or ceramic material specially produced in powder form and coat the base material giving tailor made surface properties by using the latest thermal spraying techniques.

This applied surface technology makes it possible to design components using materials with unique properties, for example; an inexpensive steel component with a thermal barrier coating offering protection at temperatures up to 1,400C or an aluminium light weight alloy with the wear resistance of Tungsten Carbide.

During the thermal spraying process finely powdered particles of metal, ceramic or carbide compounds are heated and accelerated by a high-temperature stream of gas to form a high-energy spray of near-molten droplets which impact the base material, and then adhere it to forming a tough permanent coating.

New advances in the technology have extended its value to diverse industrial applications ranging from high volume automotive brake discs and piston rings to gas turbine blades, combustion cans and nozzle guide vanes.

Thermal spraying uses a combination of thermal and kinetic energy to ensure the particles form a coating on the target.

Because the base material does not reach a very high temperature, there is no distortion of the items being sprayed, so coatings can be applied to high-precision finished parts.

Furthermore, there is no surface oxidation or changes in the microstructure of the parts being sprayed, so base materials, which have a relatively low melting point, can be coated safely.