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Effect of Powder Feed Rate on Mechanical Properties of Boron Carbide Coatings by Atmospheric Plasma Spraying (APS)

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Abstract

Boron carbide (B4C) is considered an ideal material for plasma-facing materials (PFMs) in nuclear fusion, due to a combination of excellent properties: high elastic modulus, high chemical stability, low Z and high melting point. In this paper, B4C coatings were fabricated onto tungsten (W) substrates using atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). The powder feed rate significantly affects the coating quality. The effects of different powder feed rates on the properties of sprayed coatings including thickness, porosity, and adhesion strength were investigated. The particle temperature and the particle velocity were measured by the diagnostic system DPV evolution. Phase evolution and microstructure were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD analysis showed that the main phase composition of the coating did not change compared with the initial B4C powder, the surface of the B4C coating was oxidized and formed B2O3. It has been demonstrated that the adhesion strength of the coating increases and then decreases with the increase of powder feed rate. Under the optimal powder feed rate of 1 g/min, the optimal adhesion strength of the coating is 11.38 MPa.

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Acknowledgment

This work was jointly supported by China Baowu Low Carbon Metallurgical Innovation Foundation. We thank Prof. Huang Jianjun’s group from ShenZhen University for their valuable help and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, People’s Republic of China

    Xingyue Jin, Peng Zhao, Meihua Zeng, Miroljub Vilotijevic & Liqun Hu

  2. University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, People’s Republic of China

    Xingyue Jin

  3. Institute of Energy of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, 230026, People’s Republic of China

    Qifu Lin

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  1. Xingyue Jin
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Correspondence to Peng Zhao.

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Jin, X., Zhao, P., Zeng, M. et al. Effect of Powder Feed Rate on Mechanical Properties of Boron Carbide Coatings by Atmospheric Plasma Spraying (APS). J Therm Spray Tech 32, 162–174 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-022-01467-0

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