Residual stress determination in thermally sprayed metallic deposits by neutron diffraction

Neutron diffraction was used to obtain spatially resolved strain and stress profiles in thermally sprayed metallic “NiCrAlY” deposits (chemical composition 67 wt.% Ni, 22 wt.% Cr, 10 wt.% Al, 1 wt.% Y) and the underlying steel substrates. Samples of four different spray techniques were analyzed: atmospheric and water stabilized plasma spraying (APS and WSP), flame spraying (FS) and wire arc spraying (WAS). The results are quantitatively compared with the average in-plane residual stress determined by complementary bending tests and the hole drilling technique. While the stress profiles from the surface to the interface in the deposits are similar for all investigated spray techniques, their absolute values and gradients vary strongly. This is attributed to different quenching stresses from the impinging particles, different thermal histories the deposit/substrate systems undergo during the spraying and subsequent cooling, and also to different coating properties. In the water stabilized plasma sprayed and the wire arc sprayed deposits, a gradient in the stress-free lattice parameter was observed. Crack formation is found to be a dominant mechanism for stress relaxation in the surface plane.