Improved Small-Particle Powders for Plasma Spraying

Improved small-particle powders and powder-processing conditions have been developed for use in plasma spray deposition of thermal-barrier and environmentalbarrier coatings. Heretofore, plasmasprayed coatings have typically ranged in thickness from 125 to 1,800 µm. As explained below, the improved powders make it possible to ensure complete coverage of substrates at unprecedentedly small thicknesses — of the order of 25 µm.