THERMAL SPRAYING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE SURFACE MODIFICATION OF AL ALLOYS: REVIEW

Aluminum (Al) and its alloys are attractive for a variety of applications due to its advantages like light weight, ease of processing, and high thermal/electrical conductivities. However, it suffers short comings in terms of strength, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. Thermal spray processes are widely used techniques for the surface property improvement like thermal, wear, and corrosion resistances of aluminum and other light metals. This paper summarizes the recent developments in thermal spraying and related technologies. Plasma spraying, flame spraying, and arc spraying are the chief thermal spraying techniques, whereas the HVOF and D-gun processes are the derivatives of flame spraying process. The cold spraying technique is an emerging coating technique where the particles are heated to a temperature lower than their melting point travel at high velocity and coat on impact with the target material by plastic deformation. Different parameters like heat source characteristics, coating material properties, substrate properties, and spray torch operating circumstances affect the coating microstructure and properties.