The effect of powder preparation method on the corrosion and mechanical properties of TiN-based coatings by reactive plasma spraying

TiN-based composite coatings with and without the addition of Cr were deposited by reactive plasma spraying (RPS) in air. Both sintered and mixed powder of Ti and B₄C were used for the RPS process. A thermodynamic model was firstly used to estimate the complicated phase composition of composite coatings prepared by RPS. The phase composition, structures and properties of TiN-based coatings were investigated using XRD, SEM and a Vickers microhardness tester. The results show that the phases in TiN-based coatings do not generate according to priority of Gibbs free energy value due to non-equilibrium reactive course during thermal spraying. The coating deposited using sintered Ti and B₄C powder is composed of two main phases (TiN and TiN_0.3), two minor phases (Ti₂O₃ and TiB₂), and a small fraction of TiC phase. The composition of the coating deposited using the mixed powder with Cr added is predominantly in the TiN and TiB₂ phases, a smaller phase fraction of Ti₂O₃ and TiO₂, and some unreacted Cr. The Vickers microhardness of the coating deposited using sintered powder is higher than that of using mixed powder. The composite coating deposited using mixed powder with the addition of Cr shows superior corrosion resistant to that using sintered powder when tested in 3.5 wt.% NaCl electrolytic solution.