Thermal spraying is a highly complex materials engineering process involving large thermal gradients, two back-to-back phase change operations (melting and rapid solidification) both operating in microsecond time scales resulting in high defect density materials.  Despite these complexities, thermal spray coatings have enjoyed wide spread applicability as passive protective coatings.  As thermal spray finds applications into the realm of more sophisticated applications in the electronics industry or for that matter coatings that perform functions rather than just protection, requirements in understanding process dynamics and its influence on design relevant coating properties become ever more critical.
                This presentation will highlight critical issues in assessing mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of thermal sprayed materials and their sensitivities to important processing parameters and material composition.  A particularly noteworthy attribute is that properties are strongly influenced by non-equilibrium attributes of the thermal spray process. As such property definition would have to be considered within the context of the various physical phenomena occurring during processing. Finally, the presentation will introduce the concept of process maps that provide novel representations of the processing variables with deposit properties.