The structure and tribological properties of coatings made of PN85YU15 powder were studied. The coatings were deposited on the mild steel blanks by the technology of air-plasma spraying using a unit of annular input and gas-dynamic powder focusing. Efficiency of heating and acceleration of powder particles was studied preliminarily. Measurement results on temperature and velocity distributions of particles at a certain spraying distance by the method of spectral pyrometry and time-of-flight method are presented. The effect of plasmatorch arc current and amount of propane-butane in the plasma flow on the structure and properties of coatings is analyzed in this paper. It is determined that the phase composition of coatings and initial powder is the same: the main phase is Ni₃Al compound; moreover, the structure contains Ni₅Al₃ phase. It is shown that an increase in the amount of propane-butane increases coatings porosity. The densest coatings (5.77%) were obtained at the plasmatorch arc current of 200 A with the reduced amount of propane-butane. The coatings obtained at the minimal arc current of 100 A with an increased amount of propane-butane are characterized by maximal porosity (20.38%). The results of tribological testing of the coatings under the conditions of sliding friction with a lubricant by the disc-plane scheme are presented. From the standpoint of obtaining the densest coatings with high performance, the optimal regimes of plasma spraying of PN85YU15 powder are the current from 140 A to 200 and using the air and propane-butane mixture only as the shielding gas (anode curtain).

Laser processing is an effective post-treatment method for modifying the structure and improving the properties of cold-sprayed coatings. In the present work, the possibility of fabricating a hard and wear-resistant Ti-based cermet coating by cold spray followed by laser remelting was studied. A mixture of titanium and chromium carbide powders in a ratio of 60/40 wt.% was deposited by cold spray onto a titanium alloy substrate, which ensured the formation of a composite coating with a residual chromium carbide content of about 12–13 wt.%. The optimal values of laser beam power (2 kW) and scanning speed (75 mm/s) leading to the qualitative fusion of the coating with the substrate with minimal porosity and absence of defects were revealed. The microstructure and phase composition of as-sprayed and remelted coatings were examined with SEM, EDS and XRD analysis. It was shown that the phase composition of the as-sprayed coating did not change compared to the feedstock mixture, while the remelted coating was transformed into a β-Ti(Cr) solid solution with uniformly distributed nonstoichiometric TiC_x particles. Due to the change in microstructure and phase composition, the remelted coating was characterized by an attractive combination of higher microhardness (437 HV_0.1) and lower specific wear rate (0.25 × 10⁻³ mm³/N × m) under dry sliding wear conditions compared to the as-sprayed coating and substrate. Laser remelting of the coating resulted in a change in the dominant wear mechanism from oxidative–abrasive to oxidative–adhesive with delamination.

The structural features of self-fluxing coatings obtained by air-plasma spraying with a unit of annular injection of powder are discussed in the article. It is shown that the application of an annular injection unit makes it possible to increase significantly the efficiency of particle heating in contrast to the point injection of a powder into the plasma jet. It is shown by optical and scanning electron microscopy that the major part of particles which form the coating is in a molten or plasticized condition in the plasma jet. It is revealed by transmission electron microscopy that a high cooling rate of these particles contributes to the formation of the γ-submicrocrystalline supersaturated Ni-based solid solution with an average grain size of 80 nm. To provide high technological and tribological properties it is necessary to carry out plasma spraying at an arc current less than 170 A.

This study considers the structural features of Ni-Cr-Si-B (Nibase; 15.1 % Сr; 2 % Si; 2 % В; 0.4 % С) materials obtained by different methods. The self-fluxing coatings were deposited by plasma spraying on the tubes from low carbon steel. Bulk cylinder specimens of 20 mm diameter and 15 mm height were obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The structure and phase composition of these materials were investigated by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). The major phases of coatings and sintered materials are γ-Ni, Ni3B, CrB and Сr7С3. We demonstrate that the particle unmelted in the process of plasma spraying or SPS consist of γ-Ni-Ni3B eutectic and also CrB and Сr7С3 inclusions. The prolonged exposure of powder to high temperatures as well as slow cooling rates by SPS provide for the growth of the structural components as compared to those of plasma coatings materials. High cooling rates at the plasma spraying by melted particles contribute to the formation of supersaturated solid solution of Cr, Si and Fe in γ-Ni. The structure of the melted particles in sintering material has gradient composition: the core constituted of Ni grains of 10 μm with γ-Ni-Ni3B eutectic on the edges. The results of the experiment demonstrate that the sintering material has a smaller microhardness in comparison with plasma coatings (650 and 850 MPa, respectively), but at the same time the material has higher density (porosity less than 1 %) than plasma coatings (porosity about 2…3 %).