Characterization and optimization of aluminum coatings produced by electric arc apray method

Protective coatings are important to metal working. Thermal spray is a rapidly growing market, and electric arc spraying is gaining a significant share of this market because of its low operating/equipment costs and high deposition rates and efficiency. Electric arc spraying is a process of depositing metallic materials on a substrate. Coating microstructure depends very much on spray system and parameters employed. The investigation and improvement of coating properties subjected to different wire arc spray parameters requires the knowledge of coating properties of the industry on high quality coatings. In this study, aluminum coatings were produced by electric arc spray with different process parameters and investigating the effect of spray parameters on coating characteristics. The coatings were investigated optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with EDS analysing methods. After this study, it was found that process parameters affected on coating characterization. As a result of these experiments suitable the spray parameters can be determined according to the requirements of the aluminum wire coatings.