Novel Cooling and Temperature Monitoring for High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) Coating Application

Temperature control has been a major concern during thermal spray processing.  Typically, substrate temperatures must not exceed 300°F to prevent heat damage/ tempering of steel alloys, and even lower temperature requirements for aluminum and titanium alloys.  Shop air cooling, the most commonly-used temperature control, has proven to be inadequate for controlling substrate temperatures during many coating applications.  Thus, longer off-part dwell times are required to allow for component cooling that results in significant cost due to powder and gas consumptions.

ES3 has developed a novel cooling and temperature monitoring system which utilizes cryogenic processing to maintain control of substrate temperatures during coating applications. The system has eliminated off-part dwell times while maintaining optimal operating temperatures, resulting in significant spray time (< 50%) and cost (< 40%) savings for demonstration parts. The system has passed fatigue and integrity studies, demonstrating its viability for aerospace applications.