Plasma spray deposition and characterization of strontium zirconate coatings

Strontium zirconate has been deposited on stainless steel substrates by atmospheric plasma spray technique. In-flight temperature and velocity of strontium zirconate particles were measured by the ‘spraywatch’ particle diagnostics system. The coatings have been characterized by x-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscope. Results indicated that the coating microstructure, porosity and deposition efficiency could be correlated with torch input power and spray distance in terms of the particle temperature and velocity. Adherent coatings with low porosity could be obtained at 24 kW power and 80 mm standoff distance.