Development of protective coatings using fly ash premixed with metal powder on aluminium substrates

Fly ash is a solid waste generated in huge quantities from coal-fired thermal power stations during the combustion of coal. Rich in metal oxides, it has tremendous potential as a coating material on structural and engineering components. This work aims at developing and characterizing a new class of such coatings made of fly ash by a novel technique - plasma spraying. Plasma spray technology has the advantage of being able to process various low-grade ore minerals to obtain value-added products and also to deposit ceramics, metals and a combination of these, generating near-homogeneous coatings with the desired microstructure on a range of substrates. In the present investigation, coatings are developed on aluminium substrates using fly ash premixed with aluminium powder in different weight proportions at various plasma torch input power levels ranging from 9- 18 kW DC. The coatings are characterized in terms of interface adhesion strength and deposition efficiency. Maximum adhesion strength of about 35 MPa is recorded with coatings deposited at 12 kW power level. It was noticed that the quality and properties are significantly affected by the operating power level of the plasma sprayer. This work identifies fly ash as a potential coating material, suitable for possible tribological applications.