Those may be split into two main categories, for thick coatings:
- Plasma Spraying (PS);
- High Velocity Oxy Fuel (HVOF);
- Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA).
and for thin films:
- Electron Beam-Physical Vapour Deposition (EB-PVD);
- Arc+sputtering-Physical Vapour Deposition;
- Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PA-CVD).
The Plasma Spray facility is at an industrial scale level and has been designed to operate in a very flexible way. In fact, its technical characteristics allows it to be managed in four different modes, being equipped with a process chamber which permits to create different operational conditions: Air Plasma Spray (APS) , Vacuum Plasma Spray (VPS), High Pressure Plasma Spray (HPPS) and Controlled Atmosphere Plasma Spray (CAPS) (shared with Rome "La Sapienza" University).
Every type of material can be handled and deposited by means of this Plasma Spray (i.e., metals, alloys, ceramics, cermets and ceramics composites) and its flexibility can be exploited for selecting the operational practice which gives the best results in terms of coating quality and adhesion to substrates. The coatings thickness normally ranges in-between 0.5-1 mm, even if higher thickness is also achievable in a reliable way by adopting stress-relieving post-treatments.