Plasma Sprayed Coating Using Mullite and Mixed Alumina/Silica Powders

Plasma sprayed ceramic coatings are widely used for thermal barrier coating applications. Commercially available mullite powder particles and a mixture of mechanically alloyed alumina and silica powder particles were used to deposit mullite ceramic coatings by plasma spraying. The coatings were deposited at three different substrate temperatures (room temperature, 300 °C, and 600 °C) on stainless steel substrates. Microstructure and morphology of both powder particles as well as coatings were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy. Phase formation and degree of crystallization of coatings were analyzed by x-ray diffraction. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was used to study phase transformations in the coatings. Results indicated that the porosity level in the coatings deposited using mullite initial powder particles were lower than those deposited using the mixed initial powder particles. The degree of crystallization of the coatings deposited using the mixed powder particles was higher than that deposited using mullite powder particles at substrate temperatures of 25 and 300 °C. DTA curves of the coatings deposited using the mixed powders showed some transformation of the retained amorphous phase into mullite and alumina. The degree of crystallization of the as sprayed coatings using the mixed powder particles was significantly increased after post deposition heat treatments. The results indicated that the mechanically alloyed mixed powder can be used as initial powder particles for deposition of mullite coatings instead of using mullite powders.