Diagnostic results and investigations of a cascaded DC single-cathode-single-anode plasma generator

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 alumina, 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 on the DFG project DC Single-Cathode Single-Anode Plasma Generator is given. In this paper, first diagnostic results characterizing the physical behaviour and special plasma symmetry are shown. Thereby computer tomography (CT), high-speed camera investigations coupled with time-adjusted current-voltage measurements and 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.