Cord Plasma Spray (CPS), a new robust process with the potential to produce advanced coatings in IGT and Aero applications

Plasma spray technology has demonstrated impressive flexibility, enabling DVCs, columnar TBCs with SPS, and high-performance abradable coatings. Due to the process complexity, however, a key challenge for the IGT and aerospace industries is to achieve a robust process at industrial scale. This can be further complicated when attempting to use SPS technology or when co-spraying dissimilar materials due to the additional challenges inherent in these processes.

This presentation will introduce a breakthrough technology in thermal spraying: cord plasma spray (CPS). The authors obtained a variety of interesting microstructures by combining specifically developed YSZ cords (containing very fine powders) with the axial injection torch AXIAL III® (from Northwest Mettech Corp.). The expected advantages of this new approach will be presented along with potential industrial applications in the IGT and aerospace turbine markets.