Product Code: ICAL08_1102

Obtaining Thermal Damping Metallic Porous Coating on Ceramics by Means of Supersonic Laser Spray Technique
Authors:
A. Riveiro, University of Vigo; Vigo Spain
F. Lusquis, University of Vigo; Vigo Spain
F. Quintero, University of Vigo; Vigo Spain
R. Comesa�A, University of Vigo; Vigo Spain
J. Pou, Universidade De Vigo; Vigo Spain
Presented at ICALEO 2008

This work presents a novel technique, named supersonic laser spraying, to coat ceramic materials with metals. This technique enables to obtain porous coatings which can act as thermal barriers. In this technique, a laser beam is focused onto the surface of a precursor material in such a way that it is melted in the beam-metal interaction zone. Then, a high-velocity gas jet expels the molten material and propels it to the surface of the substrate, in this case a ceramic substrate. This is an alternative technique to plasma spray. In this work, we present some preliminary results obtained using the supersonic laser spray technique to coat a commercial cordierite ceramic plate with an Al-Cu alloy using a 3.5 kW CO2 laser and a supersonic jet of Argon. Coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray difraction and interferometric profilometry. Preliminary tests on the performance of such coatings as thermal barriers have been also carried out. The results were very promising and showing the great potential of the technique as an alternative to plasma spray.