Effect of Processing Parameters on Properties of Plasma Sprayed CuAl Coating

Plasma sprayed aluminum–bronze (CuAl) alloy coating was fabricated on steel substrate, and the effects of processing parameters on the structure and tribological behaviors of the resultant CuAl coating were reported. Results show that although the aluminum–bronze coating deposited with high primary gas flow rate and low energy density (input power divided by primary gas flow rate) has the highest hardness and lowest defect level, it just possesses a medium wear resistance under sliding wear condition. The main wear mechanism of plasma sprayed CuAl coating is splats delamination resulted from surface fatigue cracks and fracture, which are not only related to coating's hardness and defect level. Furthermore, the most wear-resistant CuAl coating is the one deposited at higher input power with low primary gas flow rate. Such processing parameters can furthest restrict the precipitation of brittle β′ phase and consequently relieves the surface fatigue cracks and fracture under unlubricated wear condition.

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