NASA interested in India-made thermal spray coating technology

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is interested in new India-made thermal spray coating technology used for gas turbine engine in spacecraft.
It has been developed by Dr. Satish Tailor, Rajasthan-based researcher working with Jodhpur-based Metallizing Equipment Company (MEC).

Key Facts

The technology is called controlled segmented Yttria-Stabilised Zirconia (YSZ)-Plasma sprayed coating technology. It has potential to reduce thermal spray coating cost by almost 50%. It develops vertical cracks (segmentation) in coating, beneficial for gas turbine engine application used in spacecraft.
The new technology has advantage over current, costly techniques such as SPS or EB-PVD deposited coatings. These present technologies develop such cracks through very expensive processes (in several crore) and are not controllable.

Significance

The YSZ thermal barrier coatings produced by atmospheric plasma sprayed (APS) technique has potential of wider industrial and strategic acceptability. It can be industrially adopted to make a strain-tolerant coating more economical.

Thermal Spray Coating Technology

Thermal spray coating refers to number of processes in which substrate is coated to improve functional performance. It involves the deposition of coatings from stream of high velocity finely divided particles in molten or semi-molten state impinging onto the substrate.
Many types of coating materials can be applied by thermal spray processes. These coatings can range in thickness from thousandth of inch up to eighth of inch. Thermal spray coatings are used to protect parts from wear, abrasion, corrosion, high temperatures, etc. and also to build dimensions on undersized parts.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2018