Increasing Performance of Plasma Spray Formed Components
Abstract Near net shape spray forming of components significantly simplifies and reduces cost of fabricating some structures. Material utilization is very high, and laborious machining can be avoided. As-spray formed components have been tested and found to perform adequately. However, improvements in alloying, thermal treatment and coating have been demonstrated to add increased performance to spray formed components. In fabricating tungsten components alloying additions of rhenium, nickel or iron have made significant increases in material strength and ductility. Thermal treatments such as heat treating and HIPing change and densify the microstructures. Coating the internal and external surfaces of components improves environmental compatibility. Increased performance of plasma spray formed refractory metal components is presented.