Controlling of nitriding process on reactive plasma spraying of Al particles

Abstract

Reactive plasma spraying (RPS) has been considered as a promising technology for in-situ formation of aluminum nitride (AlN) thermally sprayed coatings. To fabricate thick A lN coatings in RPS process, controlling and improving the in-flight nitriding reaction of Al particles is required. In this study, it was possible to control the nitriding reaction by using ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) powders. Thick and dense AlN coating (more than 300 μm thickness) was successfully fabricated with small addition of NH4Cl powders. Thus, addition of NH4Cl prevented the Al aggregation by changing the reaction pathway to a mild way with no explosive mode (relatively low heating rates) and it acts as a catalyst, nitrogen source and diluent agent. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.