Understanding plasma spraying

Abstract

This article intends to summarize our actual knowledge in plasma spraying with an emphasis on the points where work is still in progress. It presents successively: the plasma torches with the resulting plasma jets and their interactions with the surrounding environment; the powder injection with the heat, momentum and mass transfers between particles and first plasma jets and then plasma plume; the particles flattening and solidification, forming splats which then layer to form the coating; the latest developments related to the production of plasma sprayed finely structured coatings.