The equiaxed-banded microstructural transition during low pressure plasma spraying Original Research Article

The microstructure of low pressure plasma spray deposited Al–12%Si has been investigated as a function of temperature during spray deposition, concentrating on deposit homogeneity, porosity, microstructure and microhardness. The deposit microstructure was determined by the temperature during spray deposition. Low temperatures promoted inhomogeneous banded microstructures, incorporating partially solidified and unmelted particles, with high levels of intersplat porosity, extended Si solubility in the α-Al matrix, amorphous and nano-sized Si precipitates and relatively high microhardness. High temperatures promoted homogeneous equiaxed microstructures, with low porosity levels, low Si solubility in the α-Al matrix, micro-sized Si precipitates, and relatively low microhardness. The measured critical transition temperature was in the range 190–345 °C, in reasonable agreement with Cantor et al.’s intermixing model of microstructure formation during spray deposition, which predicted a critical transition temperature of 328 °C. The corresponding critical intersplat time was estimated to be 1.4 × 10−4 s, indicating intermediate cooling conditions for splatting droplets arriving at the deposit surface.