An investigation of thermal conductivity of ceramic plasma coatings sprayed with plated powders

Features of the formation and structure of plasma ceramic coatings sprayed with composite powders based on alumina and zirconia plated with nickel and aluminum are studied. The porosity and thermal conductivity of the coatings and the microhardness of the phase components are measured. It is found that a decrease in the thermal conductivity of the composite coatings caused by a decrease in the metal phase content with increasing plasmatron arc power is compensated by an increase thereof owing to a decrease in the coating porosity, which neutralizes the net effect of the arc power on the thermal conductivity of metal–ceramic coatings. © 2016, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.