Atmospheric plasma spraying APS
Improve the wear resistance of your equipment
Oxidation and corrosion resistant coatings for hot section gas turbine components are used to improve wear resistance, enhance performance and extend the lifetime of your components by thermal insulation. Sulzer has fully equipped workshops to perform APS on your turbine components.
In this line-of-sight process that is carried out in an open atmosphere, a high-powered jet of ionized argon and/or helium or hydrogen (plasma) melts ceramic powders and other high-temperature materials. The molten particles are then sprayed on a carefully cleaned and prepared surface.
Applications of APS
- APS renders porous coatings and is only suitable for materials that tolerate brief exposure to atmospheric conditions
- Used to spray hard facing materials and other build-up materials in less demanding applications, thus offering a more economical alternative to High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) spraying
- Mainly used to spray Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) on turbine components of any size
- Also for application of chromium carbide hardfacing coatings for better fretting resistance on combustion parts
TBC coatings
- APS TBC coatings require careful cleaning immediately before the application of the (metallic) bond coating and the ceramic TBC
- TBC thickness can be selected between 200 and 1,000 microns or more
- Standard TBC coatings are zirconium oxide with 8% yttrium oxide for phase stabilization
- The density of the TBC coatings, which has to be optimized for durability, is selected by setting the process parameters