What is Thermal Spraying?

 

Thermal spraying is a technology which improves or restores the surface of a solid material. The process can be used to apply coatings to a wide range of materials and components, to provide resistance to: Wear, erosion, cavitation, corrosion, abrasion or heat. Thermal spraying is also used to provide electrical conductivity or insulation, lubricity, high or low friction, sacrificial wear, chemical resistance and many other desirable surface properties.

 

Thermal spraying is widely adopted across many industries as a preferred method. It has huge scope to extend the life of new components or through the use of tried and tested techniques, to repair and re-engineer worn or damaged components.

 

The Basics

All methods of thermal spraying involve the projection of small softened particles onto a cleaned and prepared surface where they adhere to form a continuous coating. Combined thermal and kinetic energy causes the particles to flatten or ’splat’ onto the surface, and onto each other, to produce a cohesive coating of successive layers.

 

 

• Metallurgically cold process.

• Virtually no heat input to the substrate (<80 ̊C typically), no distortion.

• Primarily a mechanical bonding process.

• Can spray many materials: Steels, stainless steels, nickel alloys, copper, bronzes, molybdenum, ceramics, tungsten carbides etc.

• Can be applied at various thicknesses, typically 100-750 microns but can be more. Line of sight process.

 

Every time you drive a car, every time you fly, every time you switch on a fluorescent light then you will probably be relying on a thermally sprayed coating. Thermally sprayed coatings are used right across the spectrum of engineering and manufacturing to enhance the surface of components made from low cost or light weight materials. This allows the designer to create cost effective, high performance parts with a functional surface exactly where it is required.

 

Metals and ceramics can now be applied to various surfaces using a variety of thermal spray techniques to achieve the desired surface characteristics. For instance, wire arc spray techniques are used to coat large metallic structures such as bridges with anticorrosive coatings. Basically, anything that is unsuitable for galvanizing is a candidate for this spray technique. In fact thermal spray corrosion coatings are recognised globally as a viable alternative to hot-dip galvanising. Scientific evidence proves that thermal sprayed coating provide superior corrosion resistant in comparison to galvanised coatings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protx specialise in thermal sprayed anti-corrosion coatings. We can protect steel surface from corrosion by applying zinc or aluminium in the form of a molten metal coating ensuring longterm protection exceeding 25 years.