Influence of Substrate Shape and Roughness on Coating Microstructure in Suspension Plasma Spray

This study investigated the influence of the substrate shape and roughness on the microstructure of suspension plasma spray (SPS) coatings. For this purpose, an yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) suspension was sprayed on flat and curved stainless-steel substrates by SPS. The suspension was composed of 20 wt.% YSZ particles in ethanol. After spraying, the morphology of the coatings was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the substrate shape influences the amount of coating material deposited and microstructural features of the coating. The amount of coating material deposited was seen to decrease as the radius of curvature decreased. Finally, the roughness was found to influence the formation of columnar structure. View Full-Tex