In-flight behaviors of ZrO2 particle in plasma spraying

In recent years, on-line measurement of particle in-flight behaviors including temperature, velocity and spatial distribution is one of the most important research fields, which can be used to directly analyze the influence of spray parameters and to control the coating quality real-time during plasma spray forming. According to the method of orthogonal experiments, plasma spraying of ZrO2 has been carried out under different spray parameters in this paper. The particle in-flight behaviors have been measured by a two-color emission technique to analyze the influence of argon flow rate, hydrogen flow rate and electrical current on the particle temperature and velocity. The molten state of the particle has been analyzed. The results showed that the particle velocity increased remarkably with the increase of the argon flow rate. The particle temperature was mainly influenced by the hydrogen flow rate, and increasing electrical current resulted in the increase of the particle temperature and velocity to some extent. The molten state of the particle, affected by the particle in-flight behaviors in the plasma jet, could be used to analyze the deposition efficiency and coating quality.