6533b856fe1ef96bd12b244c

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Thermal sprayed coatings for protection against cavitation erosion

subject

description

In order to protect the hydraulic components from cavitation erosion phenomena, the parts are often coated by thermal spraying. Buck YSZ shows an excellent performance against cavitation erosion. However, the cavitation erosion resistance of YSZ coatings have vaguely been studied. Therefore, in this study, YSZ were manufactured with different thermal spraying processes and post-treated by laser remelting, then they were subjected to cavitation tests according to ASTM G32.The YSZ coating was first manufactured by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). Various sizes of YSZ powder and different preheating temperatures of the substrate were studied to observe their effect on the cavitation behavior of the samples. The acoustic cavitation simulation of the Caflisch type has been used to estimate the speed of the water jet and the stresses exerted by the collapse of the bubbles on the surface of the samples. The cavitation results of the two YSZ and 304SS coatings were aslo studied to discuss cavitation damage of a thermally sprayed coating.Then in order to densify these samples, YSZ-NiCrBSi composite coatings containing from 5 to 25 wt% NiCrBSi in the mixture were manufactured with the APS process. The results of cavitation erosion show that low adhesion of NiCrBSi particles counterbalances the positive effect of decreasing porosity in these coatings. The YSZ coating was then post-treated by laser remelting and various laser parameters were tested to optimize their densification. It turns out that laser remelting produces a dense surface layer but also cracks inside the coatings. Exposed to the cavitation erosion test, it was observed significant removal of the remelted parts of the coating and, resulting in rapid mass loss. This is why epoxy has been used to infiltrate these cracks. The laser remelted and epoxy infiltrated coating exhibits a significant improvement in cavitation resistance. Finally, the vacuum plasma spraying method (VPS), which provides very dense coatings, was used to make the YSZ coating. A porosity coating of less than 1% was obtained. Due to the high temperature of the substrate during VPS projection, the interlamellar bonds are improved, contributing to a significant increase of cavitation resistance.