Comparative Study of Mechanical Properties and Residual Stress Distributions of Copper Coatings Obtained by Different Thermal Spray Processes

Abstract

In this work, the influence of the thermal spraying processes, atmospheric plasma spraying (APS), high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF), and vacuum plasma spraying (VPS), on the microstructure and properties of copper coatings is discussed. The differences in microstructure, microhardness, and residual stress for each type of coating are shown. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) method is used to evaluate the mechanical anisotropical characteristics of the materials and the residual stress distribution. The particularity of this study is that the thickness of the coating is of the millimetre scale; the massive coating specimens without a substrate were obtained for XRD microelastic modulus measurements and for macrotensile measurement. Microhardness distributions have been obtained in coatings and in substrates that pass through the interface zones. It was observed that dense coatings could be obtained by industrial processes such as APS and HVOF, but they induce oxidation in the copper coating. The copper oxidation is limited in the VPS process. The elastic modulus values measured by the in situ XRD method show that the HVOF coating has more rigidity than the APS coating. HVOF and VPS copper coatings have higher microhardness values than the APS copper coating. The residual stress values are in traction in the APS, VPS, and HVOF coatings: the residual stress level in the HVOF and APS coatings is less important than that in the VPS coating. The microstructure observations show that the VPS copper coating has a recrystallised structure whereas the APS and HVOF copper coatings have a splat type structure. As a consequence, the VPS copper coating has a high Young’s modulus, an important mechanical resistance, and a high elongation as compared with the other copper coatings.