Two new mechanisms of droplet splashing and breakup during impact have been identified and analyzed. One is the internal rupture of spreading droplet film through formation of holes, and the other is the splashing of droplet due to its freezing during spreading. The mechanism of film rupture was investigated by two different methods. In the first method, circular water films were produced by directing a 1 mm diameter water jet onto a flat, horizontal plate for 10 ms. In the second method, films were produced by making 0.6 mm water droplets impact a solid surface mounted on the rim of a rotating flywheel. Substrate wettability was varied over a wide range, including superhydrophobic. In both cases, the tendency to film rupture first increased and then decreased with contact angle. A thermodynamic stability analysis predicted this behavior by showing that films would be stable at very small or very large contact angle, but unstable in between. Film rupture was also found to be promoted by increasing surface roughness or decreasing film thickness. To study the effect of solidification, the impact of molten tin droplets (0.6 mm diameter) on solid surfaces was observed for a range of impact velocities (10 to 30 m/s), substrate temperatures (25 to 200°C) and substrate materials (stainless steel, aluminum and glass) using the rotating flywheel apparatus. Droplets splashed extensively on a cold surface but on a hot surface there was no splashing. Splashing could be completely suppressed by either increasing the substrate temperature or reducing its thermal diffusivity. An analytical model was developed to predict this splashing behavior. The above two theories of freezing-induced splashing and film rupture were combined to predict the morphology of splats typically observed in a thermal spray process. A dimensionless solidification parameter, which takes into account factors such as the droplet diameter and velocity, substrate temperature, splat and substrate thermophysical properties, and thermal contact resistance between the two, was developed. Predictions from the model were compared with a wide range of experimental data and found to agree well.

Two new mechanisms of droplet splashing and breakup during impact have been identified and analyzed. One is the internal rupture of spreading droplet film through formation of holes, and the other is the splashing of droplet due to its freezing during spreading. The mechanism of film rupture was investigated by two different methods. In the first method, circular water films were produced by directing a 1 mm diameter water jet onto a flat, horizontal plate for 10 ms. In the second method, films were produced by making 0.6 mm water droplets impact a solid surface mounted on the rim of a rotating flywheel. Substrate wettability was varied over a wide range, including superhydrophobic. In both cases, the tendency to film rupture first increased and then decreased with contact angle. A thermodynamic stability analysis predicted this behavior by showing that films would be stable at very small or very large contact angle, but unstable in between. Film rupture was also found to be promoted by increasing surface roughness or decreasing film thickness. To study the effect of solidification, the impact of molten tin droplets (0.6 mm diameter) on solid surfaces was observed for a range of impact velocities (10 to 30 m/s), substrate temperatures (25 to 200°C) and substrate materials (stainless steel, aluminum and glass) using the rotating flywheel apparatus. Droplets splashed extensively on a cold surface but on a hot surface there was no splashing. Splashing could be completely suppressed by either increasing the substrate temperature or reducing its thermal diffusivity. An analytical model was developed to predict this splashing behavior. The above two theories of freezing-induced splashing and film rupture were combined to predict the morphology of splats typically observed in a thermal spray process. A dimensionless solidification parameter, which takes into account factors such as the droplet diameter and velocity, substrate temperature, splat and substrate thermophysical properties, and thermal contact resistance between the two, was developed. Predictions from the model were compared with a wide range of experimental data and found to agree well.

This research investigates the efficacy of liquid-precursor thermal spray coating (TSC) as a facile wood modification technique to bring hydrophobicity and UV durability to a wooden surface. The technique was successful in depositing Cu and TiO2 particles onto southern yellow pine (SYP) veneers by using copper azole, copper quaternary, and titanium tetraisopropoxide as the precursor solutions. Using optimized settings, the average coating surface coverage of > 90% and an average coating thickness of > 5 μm were obtained. The coatings displayed up to 4H rating in the film hardness scale and up to 3B rating in adhesion strength scale, suggesting reasonable mechanical durability under mild mechanical abrasion. TSC-modified wood with TiO2 created a water repellent layer, yielding a significant increase in hydrophobicity that changed the water contact angle from 57° to 126°. Accelerated weathering test results showed that the TSC-modified wood was more resistant to discoloration compared to unmodified wood.

Thermal spray coatings applied with high velocity techniques produce dense, industrial quality coatings with strong adhesion and minimal decomposition. This thesis reports on investigations of splat-substrate interactions for both solid and molten splats. Specifically, individual particles were studied to see how the particle is altered during the spray coating process, how they bond to the substrate and the role of surface oxides. Investigations of NiCr particles high velocity air fuel (HVAF) thermally sprayed onto different materials found that soft substrates predominantly had deeply penetrating solid particles, whereas harder substrates resisted particle penetration and had a higher percentage of molten splats. This effect is caused by particle kinetic energy converted into heat during plastic deformation. The percentage of particle kinetic energy converted into heat is proportional to substrate hardness. It was also discovered that during the coating process the oxide is not removed or altered in composition, but becomes redistributed over a larger surface area due to the plastic deformation of the substrate. During this process, small scale redistribution and penetration of the oxide material by the incoming particle occurs. These results support the idea that successful bonding can occur only when the surface oxide on the substrate and on the coating material has been disturbed (for solid splats) or disrupted (for molten splats). To date, our knowledge of solid splat bonding processes within thermal spray coatings has been very subjective where mechanical and chemical bonding has been expected to contribute. In this thesis, the splat-substrate interface was investigated with focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy, cross-sectional SEM and cross-sectional TEM. For solid NiCr splat HVAF coatings, the discovery of interfacial formations, together with no evidence of chemical bonding across the particle-substrate interface suggest that mechanical bonding is the dominant bonding mechanism for solid splat coatings; where as chemical bonding only plays a role when splats and/or substrate become molten. / GNS Science

Thermal spray coatings applied with high velocity techniques produce dense, industrial quality coatings with strong adhesion and minimal decomposition. This thesis reports on investigations of splat-substrate interactions for both solid and molten splats. Specifically, individual particles were studied to see how the particle is altered during the spray coating process, how they bond to the substrate and the role of surface oxides. Investigations of NiCr particles high velocity air fuel (HVAF) thermally sprayed onto different materials found that soft substrates predominantly had deeply penetrating solid particles, whereas harder substrates resisted particle penetration and had a higher percentage of molten splats. This effect is caused by particle kinetic energy converted into heat during plastic deformation. The percentage of particle kinetic energy converted into heat is proportional to substrate hardness. It was also discovered that during the coating process the oxide is not removed or altered in composition, but becomes redistributed over a larger surface area due to the plastic deformation of the substrate. During this process, small scale redistribution and penetration of the oxide material by the incoming particle occurs. These results support the idea that successful bonding can occur only when the surface oxide on the substrate and on the coating material has been disturbed (for solid splats) or disrupted (for molten splats). To date, our knowledge of solid splat bonding processes within thermal spray coatings has been very subjective where mechanical and chemical bonding has been expected to contribute. In this thesis, the splat-substrate interface was investigated with focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy, cross-sectional SEM and cross-sectional TEM. For solid NiCr splat HVAF coatings, the discovery of interfacial formations, together with no evidence of chemical bonding across the particle-substrate interface suggest that mechanical bonding is the dominant bonding mechanism for solid splat coatings; where as chemical bonding only plays a role when splats and/or substrate become molten. / GNS Science

Thermal spray coatings applied with high velocity techniques produce dense, industrial quality coatings with strong adhesion and minimal decomposition. This thesis reports on investigations of splat-substrate interactions for both solid and molten splats. Specifically, individual particles were studied to see how the particle is altered during the spray coating process, how they bond to the substrate and the role of surface oxides. Investigations of NiCr particles high velocity air fuel (HVAF) thermally sprayed onto different materials found that soft substrates predominantly had deeply penetrating solid particles, whereas harder substrates resisted particle penetration and had a higher percentage of molten splats. This effect is caused by particle kinetic energy converted into heat during plastic deformation. The percentage of particle kinetic energy converted into heat is proportional to substrate hardness. It was also discovered that during the coating process the oxide is not removed or altered in composition, but becomes redistributed over a larger surface area due to the plastic deformation of the substrate. During this process, small scale redistribution and penetration of the oxide material by the incoming particle occurs. These results support the idea that successful bonding can occur only when the surface oxide on the substrate and on the coating material has been disturbed (for solid splats) or disrupted (for molten splats). To date, our knowledge of solid splat bonding processes within thermal spray coatings has been very subjective where mechanical and chemical bonding has been expected to contribute. In this thesis, the splat-substrate interface was investigated with focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy, cross-sectional SEM and cross-sectional TEM. For solid NiCr splat HVAF coatings, the discovery of interfacial formations, together with no evidence of chemical bonding across the particle-substrate interface suggest that mechanical bonding is the dominant bonding mechanism for solid splat coatings; where as chemical bonding only plays a role when splats and/or substrate become molten. / GNS Science

Thermal spray coatings applied with high velocity techniques produce dense, industrial quality coatings with strong adhesion and minimal decomposition. This thesis reports on investigations of splat-substrate interactions for both solid and molten splats. Specifically, individual particles were studied to see how the particle is altered during the spray coating process, how they bond to the substrate and the role of surface oxides. Investigations of NiCr particles high velocity air fuel (HVAF) thermally sprayed onto different materials found that soft substrates predominantly had deeply penetrating solid particles, whereas harder substrates resisted particle penetration and had a higher percentage of molten splats. This effect is caused by particle kinetic energy converted into heat during plastic deformation. The percentage of particle kinetic energy converted into heat is proportional to substrate hardness. It was also discovered that during the coating process the oxide is not removed or altered in composition, but becomes redistributed over a larger surface area due to the plastic deformation of the substrate. During this process, small scale redistribution and penetration of the oxide material by the incoming particle occurs. These results support the idea that successful bonding can occur only when the surface oxide on the substrate and on the coating material has been disturbed (for solid splats) or disrupted (for molten splats). To date, our knowledge of solid splat bonding processes within thermal spray coatings has been very subjective where mechanical and chemical bonding has been expected to contribute. In this thesis, the splat-substrate interface was investigated with focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy, cross-sectional SEM and cross-sectional TEM. For solid NiCr splat HVAF coatings, the discovery of interfacial formations, together with no evidence of chemical bonding across the particle-substrate interface suggest that mechanical bonding is the dominant bonding mechanism for solid splat coatings; where as chemical bonding only plays a role when splats and/or substrate become molten. / GNS Science

In a variety of engineering applications, components are subjected to corrosive environment. Protective coatings are essential to improve the functional performances and/or extend the lifetime of the components. Thermal sprayingas a cost-effective coating deposition technique offers high flexibility in coatings' chemistry/morphology/microstructure design. However, the inherent pores formed during spraying limit the use of coatings for corrosion protection. The recently developed supersonic spray method, High-Velocity-Air-Fuel (HVAF), brings significant advantages in terms of cost and coating properties. Although severely reduced, the pores are not completely eliminated even with the HVAF process. In view of the above gap to have a high quality coating, bi-layer coatings have been developed to improve the corrosion resistance of the coatings. In a bi-layer coating, an intermediate layer is deposited on the substrate before spraying the coating. The electrochemical behavior of each layer is important to ensure a good corrosion protection. The corrosion behavior of the layers strongly depends on coating composition and microstructure, which are affected by feedstock material and spraying process. Therefore, the objective of the researchis to explore the relationships between feedstock material, spraying process, microstructure and corrosion behavior of bi-layer coatings. A specific motivationis to understand the corrosion mechanisms of the intermediate layer which forms the basis for developing superior protective coatings. Cr3C2-NiCr top layer and intermediate layers (Fe-, Co- and Ni-based) were sprayed by different thermal spraying processes. Microstructure analysis, as well as various corrosion tests, e.g., electrochemical, salt spray and immersion tests were performed. The results showed a direct link between the corrosion potential (Ecorr) of the intermediate layer and the corrosion mechanisms. It was found that the higher corrosion resistance of Ni-based coatings than Fe- and Co-based coatings was due to higher Ecorr of the coating in the galvanic couple with top layers. Inter-lamellar boundaries and interconnected pores reduced the corrosion resistance of intermediate layers, however a sufficient reservoir of protective scale-forming elements (such as Cr or Al) improved the corrosion behavior.

<p dir="ltr">Fretting wear occurs when two contacting bodies under load are subjected to small amplitude oscillatory motion. Depending on the applied normal load, displacement amplitude, coefficient of friction and resulting shear force, two types of fretting wear regimes exist – (i) partial slip and (ii) gross slip. At displacement amplitudes higher than gross slip condition, sliding wear regime prevails. Fretting wear becomes dominant in machine components subject to vibrations such as bearings, dovetail joints, etc. whereas sliding wear is observed in brakes, piston-ring applications, etc. The work in this dissertation primarily focuses on characterizing the material response of various machine components subjected to fretting and sliding wear regimes.</p><p dir="ltr">At first, the friction and fretting wear behavior of inlet ring and spring clip components used in land-based gas turbines was investigated at elevated (<a href="" target="_blank">500°C</a>) temperature. In order to achieve this objective, a novel high-temperature fretting wear apparatus was designed and developed to simulate the conditions existing in a gas turbine. The test apparatus was used to investigate fretting wear of atmospheric plasma sprayed (APS) Cr₃C₂-NiCr (25% wt.), high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) sprayed Cr₃C₂-NiCr (25% wt.), HVOF sprayed T-800 and APS sprayed PS400 coated inlet rings against HVOF-sprayed Cr₃C₂-NiCr (25% wt.) coated spring clip. The PS400 coated inlet rings demonstrated a significant reduction in friction and wear. A finite element (FE) framework was also developed to simulate fretting wear in HVOF-sprayed Cr₃C₂-NiCr composite cermet coating. The material microstructure was modelled using Voronoi tessellations with a log-normal distribution of grain size. Moreover, the individual material phases in the coating were randomly assigned to resemble the microstructure from an actual SEM micrograph. A damage mechanics based cohesive zone model with grain deletion algorithm was used to simulate debonding of the ceramic carbide phase from the matrix and resulting degradation from repeated fretting cycles. The specific wear rate obtained from the model for the existing material microstructure was benchmarked against experiments. Novel material microstructures were also modeled and demonstrated to show less scatter in wear rate.</p><p dir="ltr">Following, a three-dimensional (3D) continuum damage mechanics (CDM) FE model was developed to investigate the effects of fretting wear on rolling contact fatigue (RCF) of bearing steels. In order to determine the fretting scar geometry, a 3D arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) adaptive mesh (AM) FE model was developed to simulate fretting wear between two elastic bodies for different initially pristine fretting pressures (0.5, 0.75 and 1 GPa) and friction coefficients (0.15, 0.175 and 0.25) resulting in stick zone to contact width ratios, c/a = 0.35, 0.55 and 0.75. The resulting wear profiles were subjected to various initially pristine RCF pressures (1, 2.2 and 3.4 GPa). The pressure profiles for RCF were determined by moving the contact over the fretted wear profiles in 21 steps. These pressure profiles were then used in the CDM-FE model to predict the RCF life of fretted surfaces. The results indicate that increased fretting pressure leads to more wear on the surface, thereby reducing RCF life. As the RCF pressure increases (P_RCF ≥ 2.2 GPa), the effect of fretting on RCF life decreases for all fretting pressures and c/a values, indicating that life is primarily governed by the RCF pressure. The results from CDM-FE model were used to develop a life equation for evaluating the L₁₀ life of fretted M-50 bearing steel for the range of tested conditions.</p><p dir="ltr">Lastly, the sliding wear characteristics of pitch and poly-acrylonitrile based carbon-carbon (C/C) composites were investigated in air and nitrogen environment by designing and developing a disc brake test rig. It was found that the temperature of the disc, the surrounding environment, the supplied energy flux as well as the type of composite play a critical role in determining whether C/C composites operate in normal wear or dusting wear regime. Further analysis of wear mechanisms revealed interface and matrix cracking with fiber breakage from tests in air environment, whereas in nitrogen environment, particulate and layered debris played a prominent role.</p>