Fe-base Metal Glass Coating Produced by Gas Tunnel Type Plasma Spraying

Metal glass has excellent functions such as high toughness and corrosion resistance. Therefore it is one of the most attractive materials, and many researchers have conducted various developmental research works. However, the metal glass material is expensive and the composite material is preferred for the industrial application. Thermal spraying method is one of potential candidates to produce those metal glass composites. The gas tunnel type plasma system, which has high energy density and efficiency, is useful for smart plasma processing to obtain high quality ceramic coatings such as alumina (Al2O3) and zirconia (ZrO2) coatings. In this study, the Fe-base metal glass coatings were produced by the gas tunnel type plasma spraying, and the microstructure and mechanical property were investigated. The Fe-base metal glass coatings of 100µm in thickness were formed densely with Vickers hardness of Hv =1000 at plasma current of 300A.