Improvement in wear resistance of plasma sprayed yttria stabilized zirconia coating using nanostructured powder

Plasma sprayed yttria stabilized zirconia coatings were prepared using nanostructured and conventional powders with optimized process parameters for the highest deposition efficiency, the smallest porosity and the highest microhardness. The tribological properties of these coatings against 100C6 steel were then tested with a ball-on-disc arrangement. Results showed that although the friction coefficients of the coatings sprayed using the nanostructured powder were slightly different from those of the coatings sprayed using the conventional powder, the former coatings were more wear resistant than the latter coatings. The wear mechanisms of all the coatings were explained in terms of adhesion-induced spallation and micro-fracturing of lamellae. The improvement in wear resistance of the coatings sprayed using the nanostructured powder could be mainly ascribed to the decrease of micrometer-sized defects such as pores and interlamellar and intralamellar cracks in the coatings.