Fabrication and Ablation Behavior of Plasma Sprayed ZrC-W Composite Coatings
In this work, atmospheric plasma spray (APS) technology was applied to fabricate ZrC-W composite coatings. The microstructure of the composite coatings was characterized. The influence of W content on the ablation-resistant and thermal shock properties of ZrC-W composite coatings was evaluated using a plasma flame. The results show that the ZrC-W composite coatings had typically lamellar microstructure, which was mainly made up of cubic ZrC, cubic W and a small amount of tetragonal ZrO2. The ZrC-W coatings had improved ablation resistant and thermal shock properties compared with those of the pure ZrC coating. It was supposed that the improved density, thermal conductivity and toughness of the composite coatings contributed to this phenomenon.