Controlling the oxygen contents in vacuum plasma sprayed metal alloy coatings

An approach to measure and assess the oxygen contents of vacuum plasma spraying process atmospheres is introduced. Hereby it is envisaged to monitor vacuum plasma spraying processes and to control the uptake of oxygen in metal alloy coatings. Coating experiments were performed with Ni–Co–Cr–Al alloy bondcoat powders to proof the effectiveness of this approach. Additional experimental coatings made of NiTi powders show the benefit of controlling the oxygen contents especially for metallic alloys being highly affine to oxygen.