Mechanical Properties and Sliding Wear Resistance of Suspension Plasma Sprayed YSZ Coatings

Abstract

In this work, the yttria stabilised zirconia ZrO2+8 wt% Y2O3 (YSZ) coatings were studied. The coatings were manufactured by using a relatively new method based on liquid feedstock, called suspension plasma spraying (SPS). The main aim of the study was to investigate the influence of one of the fundamental process parameters, stand-off distance, on the YSZ coating mechanical properties, namely adhesion, cohesion, hardness, and dry sliding wear resistance. Moreover, the coating surface morphology and microstructure were investigated. Despite the fact that in the SPS method, the heat flux into the substrate is much higher than in conventional atmospheric plasma spraying (APS), for the stand-off distances as short as 40 mm, the structure has not been damaged by thermal stresses. The results revealed that shorter spray distance leads to obtaining the coatings characterised by higher cohesion and adhesion to the substrate as well as higher hardness and resistance to sliding wear. The wear mechanism of both YSZ coatings relies on the adhesive mode, which is intensified by severe coating material delamination.