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Powder spraying
General
Designation
Thermal spraying

The process
Powder flame spraying is one of a family of processes for spraying metal - others are arc wire thermal spraying, plasma
arc spraying and wire flame spraying. All use a heat source to melt the coating material and a high velocity gas jet to
break it into small droplets and propel them to the surface to be coated.
In powder flame spraying, powder is fed from a reservoir into an air stream where it is carried to the melt zone. Here,
the air mixes with a combustible gas (acetylene, propane, Mapp gas or oxygen-hydrogen) and ignites, melting the
powder and accelerating them to about 90 m/s. When the droplets strike the surface to be coated, they flow into thin
disks which interlock and bond as they solidify. The process can create coatings of metals, ceramics or polymers.
Flame-spray-and fuse is a modification of the powder spray method. Here, the spray materials are self-fluxing and
fusible, allowing the quality of the coating to be increased by a post spray heat treatment in a furnace, by induction
heating or by a gas-air flame.
The HVOF (High Velocity Oxygen Fuel) thermal spray process is basically the same as the powder pray process
except that it has been developed to produce extremely high spray velocity. Coatings produced by HVOF are very
dense and strong and can be very thick.
Process schematic

Function of treatment
Corrosion protection (organics)
Hardness
Wear resistance

Physical attributes
Surface roughness (A=v. smooth)
Processing temperature
Coating thickness
Coating (mass) rate
Surface hardness

C
2.5e3
500
3.9e-4
25

3.1e3
2.5e3
0.0025
100

C
m
kg/s
HV

360

Economic attributes
Time before handling
Relative equipment cost
Relative tooling cost

180
medium
low

Supporting information
Design guidelines
No warranty is given for the accuracy of this data

Powder spraying

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Applicable for thick or thin sections. Unsuitable for thick coatings. Large area covered easily with thin coatings. Very
applicable for site-work and machined components.
Non-metallic coating processes: from a practical standpoint, the maximum size limits for coating the outside and inside
surfaces of workpieces depend only on the preparation and handling equipment. In general, the minimum size of the
internal diameter is limited to 50 mm and the length should not exceed 3.7 m unless the diameter is large enough to
accommodate the entire gun and the supply lines. The coating of curved passages is limited to sizes and shapes that
permit distances already prescribed.
May show useful porosity.

1. Applies a wide range of coated materials. 2. Well suited for applications requiring protection against heavy wear,
corrosion, heat, oxidation, and electrical conductivity.
Technical notes
Powder spray coatings exhibit lower bond strengths, higher porosity, a narrower working temperature range, and higher
heat transmittal to the substrate than plasma-arc and electric-arc spray. Wire feed generally gives better coating than
powder as feed system ensures wire is melted before projection.
Fusing operation can cause distortion. Spray and fuse is more expensive due to extra operations. It is also limited to
self-fluxing alloys which tend to be low in ductility. Base materials are usually metal but can be ceramic, glass, and
concrete. Almost any material that can be made as powder and does not decompose chemically when melted can be
powder flame sprayed. The most commonly used are steel, bronze, aluminum, nickel, aluminum oxide, chromium
oxide, nickel graphite and thermoplastic polymers.
Typical uses
Used in the aero-engine industry as air/gas/oil seals and salvage.
The economics
Powder spraying requires medium to low capital investment, and offers high deposition rates and efficiencies, relative
ease of operation and low cost of maintenance.
The environment
No particular environmental hazards.

Links
MaterialUniverse
Reference

No warranty is given for the accuracy of this data