Engineering Demands of Thermal Spray Coating
The demands for thermal spray coating are becoming more and more stringent. Environmental concerns are also being considered as an integral part of the design process. For future economic competitiveness and a lower environmental impact, we must, therefore, turn our attention to processes that use the minimum of resources. Thermal spraying is an attractive coating technique as it offers a wide choice of materials and processes that have a reduced impact on the environment when compared to conventional plating processes. Thermal spray coating techniques Techniques such as HVOF, flame wire spraying, flame powder spraying, arc wire spraying, plasma spraying, and cold gas spraying, allow many problems of wear, corrosion and thermal degradation to be resolved by engineering the surface with tailor-made coatings. In the simplest terms possible, thermal spray coating involves heating a material in powder or wire form to a molten or semi-molten state. The material is propelled usi...