Engineers from Oerlikon Metco Inc., Westbury, N.Y., discussed suspension feed thermal spray of very fine powder materials at the ASM International ITSC 2019 conference in Japan.
Engineered surfaces for demanding applications, characterized by sub-micron or nanoscale structures, typically require thermal spray powder materials with very fine particle size distributions. Conventional carrier-gas driven powder-feed techniques have been shown to be of limited use for such fine powder materials. However, liquid-suspension feeding has emerged as a reliable and viable option for the delivery of sub-micron powders into thermal spray systems.
This new technology is slowly gaining recognition for its ability to enable to creation of unique surface structures, for applications ranging from thermal barrier coatings for gas turbine hot path parts, to hydrophobic surface coatings for aircraft wings, and has the potential to be a truly disruptive technology for thermal spray.
In this paper, the authors presented various applications for suspension-feed thermal spray technology, and introduced and discussed pathways towards commercialization of this promising technology, including but not limited to setup of suspension feed thermal spray systems.
Suspension Feed Thermal Spray Technology – an Enabler for the Creation of Unique Surface Structures
Dr. Christian Bauer, Dr. Arvind Krishna, Mr. Jochen Tewes, Mr. Riston Rocchio-Heller, Mr. Bernd Distler, Oerlikon Metco Inc., Westbury, New York
