Highlights

Turbine Components - Thermal Barrier Coatings

Mettech’s acclaimed Axial III™ plasma torch integrated with its new NanoFeed™ suspension delivery system is a remarkable combination of technologies that can produce a variety of unique coatings.  The NanoFeed delivery system provides an efficient way to precisely control feed rates of ultrafine powder in suspension that, combined with the Axial III torch, produces unique nanostructured coatings with enhanced performance properties.

Axial Suspension Plasma Spray (ASPS) has proven to be a viable alternative to existing technologies in the production of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) for high temperature turbine components.  TBCs insulate superalloy parts allowing higher, more efficient, operating temperatures.

 TBCs are generally made by air plasma spraying (APS) or electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD).  In general, EB-PVD TBCs have superior durability due to columnar structure, but it is well understood that capital and operating costs are very high.  Mettech’s ASPS system provides an economic processing solution to produce high quality TBCs with equivalent or superior properties to that of EB-PVD coatings, but at much lower operating and capital costs using an industry proven and accepted, robust thermal spray process.

 This potentially disruptive technology provides higher throughput at much reduced costs.