Coatings, materials, articles, and methods of making thereof

Abstract

A thermal spray process comprises injecting precursor solution droplets into the hot zone of the thermal spray flame. Also described are materials resulting from the process.

1 . A method of producing a material comprising:
 injecting precursor solution droplets into a thermal spray flame wherein a first portion of the precursor solution droplets are injected into a hot zone of the flame and a second portion of the precursor solution droplets are injected into a cool zone of the flame;   fragmenting the droplets of the first portion to form reduced size droplets and pyrolizing the reduced size droplets to form pyrolized particles in the hot zone;   at least partially melting the pyrolized particles in the hot zone;   depositing the at least partially melted pyrolized particles on a substrate;   fragmenting at least part of the second portion of precursor solution droplets to form smaller droplets and forming non-liquid material from the smaller droplets; and   depositing the non liquid material on the substrate.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is preheated to a temperature of about 150° C. to about 600° C. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is maintained at a temperature of about 250° to about 700° C. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets have sufficient mass and velocity to carry the precursor solution droplets into the hot zone. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of metals, coated metals, bond coated metals, ceramics, cermets, stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, nickel superalloys, ceramics, and plastics. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets comprise a precursor solution comprising a precursor salt selected from the group consisting of carboxylate salts, acetate salts, nitrate salts, chloride salts, alkoxide salts, and butoxide salts of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, and rare earth metals, and combinations comprising one or more of the foregoing salts. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the precursor salt is selected from the group consisting of zirconium nitrate, zirconium carbonate, zirconium acetate, yttrium nitrate, aluminum nitrate, gadolinium acetate, gadolinium nitrate, samarium acetate, samarium nitrate, ytterbium acetate, ytterbium nitrate, nickel nitrate, cerium acetate, lanthanum acetate, iron nitrate, zinc nitrate, and combinations comprising one or more of the foregoing salts. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets are injected radially at about 90° relative to the flame axis. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets are injected axially. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets have a diameter of about 0.5 to about 50 micrometers. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the thermal spray flame is a plasma spray flame. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets comprise multiple precursor solutions. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the multiple precursor solutions comprise different precursor salts. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets are injected using an atomizing injector nozzle. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the precursor solution droplets are injected using a piezo electric crystal induced liquid injector. 
     
     
         16 . A structural preform, layered material, graded material or composite material comprising the material of  claim 15 . 
     
     
         17 . An electrolyte layer comprising
 splats having an average diameter of less than or equal to about 2 micrometers;   a thickness less than about 200 micrometers; and   porosity less than about 5 volume % based on the total volume of the material.   
     
     
         18 . The electrolyte layer of  claim 17  comprising ZrO 2  and 20 percent by weight Y 2 O 3  based on the total weight of the material. 
     
     
         19 . A thick metal oxide coating comprising
 splats having an average diameter of less than or equal to about 2 micrometers;   a thickness of about 500 to about 5000 micrometers; and   a porosity of about 15 to about 40 volume % based on the total volume of the material.   
     
     
         20 . The thick metal oxide layer of  claim 19  comprising Al 2 O 3 . 
     
     
         21 . An anode layer comprising
 splats having an average diameter of less than or equal to about 2 micrometers;   a thickness of about 20 to about 200 micrometers; and   a porosity of about 15 to about 50 volume % based on the total volume of the material.   
     
     
         22 . The anode layer of  claim 21  comprising NiO or La2O3-doped CeO2. 
     
     
         23 . A coating disposed upon a substrate and comprising at least one interpass boundary, wherein no inter pass boundaries are present within about 50 micrometers of an interface between the substrate and the coating. 
     
     
         24 . The coating of  claim 23  wherein the coating has a thickness of about 1 micrometer to about 5 millimeters and there are no vertical cracks. 
     
     
         25 . A bulk structural material comprising splats having an average diameter of less than or equal to about 2 micrometers wherein about 80 to about 95% of the splats are splats having an average diameter of less than or equal to about 2 micrometers. 
     
     
         26 . The bulk structural material of  claim 25  wherein the material has a thickness of about 5 millimeters to about 10 centimeters and no vertical cracks or inter pass boundaries. 
     
     
         27 . The coating of  claim 25 , comprising a metal oxide, metal carbide, metal nitride, metal silicide, or a combination comprising one or more of the foregoing. 
     
     
         28 . The coating of  claim 25 , wherein the metal comprises aluminum, boron, sodium, potassium, lithium, calcium, barium, and magnesium chromium, iron, nickel, zinc, niobium, titanium, zirconium, scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, gadolinium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, terbium, ytterbium or a combination comprising one or more of the foregoing metals. 
     
     
         29 . The coating of  claim 25 , wherein the metal oxide comprises a stabilized or partially stabilized ceramic. 
     
     
         30 . The coating of  claim 27 , wherein the stabilized ceramic comprises zirconia stabilized with yttria, zirconia stabilized with ceria, zirconia stabilized with scandia, zirconia stabilized with calcia, zirconia stabilized with magnesia, zirconia stabilized with gadolinia, zirconia stabilized with lanthia, zirconia stabilized with samaria, zirconia stabilized with neodymium or zirconia stabilized with ytterbia.