Characterization of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Coatings Deposited by Low-Pressure Plasma Spraying

The research presented here aimed to apply plasma spraying at a low pressure of 100 Pa for fabricating the columnar structure or dense coatings. These coatings with different structures were elaborated from the vapor condensation and molten droplets, respectively, using the agglomerated YSZ powders and a relatively low power commercial F4-VB torch. It was shown that the crystallite size of coating deposited from the vapor condensation at a spraying distance of 200 mm was reduced to 17.1 nm from 43.7 nm of the feedstock. Observations indicated that a thin columnar structured coating was produced out of the line of sight of projection. In the line of sight of projection, the hybrid structured coating was obtained. The relatively dense coating was fabricated using a specifically designed extended nozzle. Investigations by means of optical emission spectroscopy were performed to analyze the nature of the plasma jet with YSZ powders. The Vickers microhardness was also conducted. It was found that the relatively dense coating showed a higher value in comparison to the hybrid structure coating, up to 1273 +/- 56 Hv(100g).