Ceramic zirconia oxides have been deposited by the High Frequency Pulse Detonation (HFPD) thermal spray process leading to coatings with specific characteristics of density, hardness and microstructure comparing with the well known APS or PVD zirconia coatings.
During this development, gun configuration and the process parameters (gas flows, explosion frequency, spray distance and cinematic conditions) have been optimised to get the best deposition performance. For this purpose, different type of spray powders (agglomerated, fused & crushed, fully or partially stabilized compositions, …) and size distributions, have been considered and the resulting coatings characterized.
Potential applications of these types of zirconia coatings, as advanced TBC, high temperature wear protection or ionic conductors (sensors and fuel cells) are discussed.