Compositional Development as a Function of Spray Distance in Unshrouded/Shrouded Plasma-Sprayed Cr3C2-NiCr Coatings

Thermal spraying of Cr3C2-NiCr composites generates varying degrees of carbide dissolution into the Ni binder. During high-temperature exposure, the carbide dissolution zones precipitate high concentrations of small carbides which develop into finely structured networks. This raises the possibility of producing unique tailored carbide composite structures through the generation of controlled carbide dissolution and appropriate heat treatment. The first step in this process is to produce a supersaturated Ni-Cr-C solid solution from which the carbide phase could be precipitated. In a previous work, a broad range of plasma parameters were trialed to assess their effect on the degree of carbide dissolution at a fixed spray distance of 100 mm. The current two-part work builds on the most promising plasma parameters from those trials. Part 2 of this article series investigated the effect of spray distance on the compositional development in Cr3C2-NiCr coatings during high-energy plasma spraying. The coating compositions were analyzed in detail and quantified through Rietveld fitting of the coating XRD patterns. Coating microstructural features were correlated with the observed variations in composition. The effect of the spray parameters and spray distance on the equilibrium coating compositions is discussed.