Investigations and new physical behaviour of special DC-Plasma Generator Mettech “Axial III”

The use of plasma generators for thermal surface coating has grown enormously in the field of thermal insulation and wear-resistant coatings, especially with regard to deposition of refractory oxide ceramic layers using powders such as aluminum oxide, alumina / titania, zirconia and chromium oxide. Nonetheless, innovative plasma sources are still being developed to provide more-efficient, tailor-made solutions due to their specific characteristics. A brief overview of the DC-plasma generator Mettech “Axial III” are shown, which generator are allowed to use the central injection (advantage for suspension applications). In this paper first diagnostic results characterized the physical behaviour and special plasma symmetry, which can be described by three partial plasma jets. Thereby computer tomography (CT), high speed camera investigations coupled with time-adjusted current-voltage measurements, particle parameter detections and first resulting coatings are presented and discussed. The complete paper concludes with an outlook for future diagnostic measurements and possible future applications for this DC-plasma torch.