A study of the influence of TiO2 addition in Al2O3 coatings sprayed by suspension plasma spray

Abstract

In this work, five different concentrations of a mixture of TiO2/Al2O3 nanopowders in an alcoholic suspension at 10wt.% solid content were sprayed by Suspension Plasma Spraying on steel discs. The influence of the presence of TiO2 at 0, 13, 40 and 75wt.% in Al2O3 was analysed by studying the properties of the sprayed coatings. Microscopy analysis of the projected coatings revealed a homogeneously distributed microstructure, where the densification of the coating increases with TiO2 content, while the original nanostructure is maintained. A nanoindentation study revealed an increment of nanohardness and elastic modulus due to the densifying effect of TiO2. The addition of significant amounts of TiO2 has been revealed as necessary in order to favour the fusion of Al2O3 in the SPS process.