Hybrid Plasma Spraying – New Possibilities and Challenges

Hybrid plasma spraying is emerging as the possible new technology leap in thermal spraying. Offering the throughput and deposition rates of powder-feedstock-sprayed coatings united with the tailored functionality of liquid-feedstock-sprayed coatings appears highly promising not only for large scale applications. Moreover, possible refined combinations of different materials come readily with the utilization of multiple feedstocks with varying particle sizes. However, the practical side of such coatings production is accompanied with several pitfalls which may lead to unsatisfactory results. This contribution presents examples of the challenging aspects of hybrid coating deposition (including the effect of deposition parameters) and fundamental coating formation on various systems, e.g. Al₂O₃-TiO₂, to increase the understanding of this new deposition route.