Ablation behaviour of ZrC coating by novel solid shielding/shrouded plasma spray

ABSTRACT

In this study, for the first time, ZrC coating was deposited on SiC coated graphite by optimized atmospheric plasma spray (i.e. solid shielding shrouded plasma spray (SSPS)) method. Then SSPS-ZrC coatings were compared with the atmospheric plasma spray APS-ZrC coatings. The results indicated that the the SSPS-ZrC coated sample had lower porosity compared with APS-ZrC coating (3% and 7.5% respectively) and the ablation test revealed that the linear and mass ablation rates of the ZrC coating applied by APS method were 3.7×10⁻³ mm.s⁻¹ and 22×10⁻³ g.s⁻¹, while those for SSPS coating were 2.2×10⁻³ mm.s⁻¹ and 14×10⁻³ g.s⁻¹, respectively. The results showed that applying the ZrC coating with the SSPS method can improve the ablation resistance of the equipment used in harsh conditions, significantly. It is attributed to the formation of a continuous zirconia (ZrO₂) layer on the surface during the ablation test of the ZrC coating.

KEYWORDS:

• graphite
• ZrC
• Ablation rate
• SiC
• coating
• plasma spray
• solid Shield
• shroud

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).