Superalloy Skin on Nickel Open-Pore Foam Deposited by Thermal Spray Processes

Open pore metallic foams can be used for high temperature, high performance heat exchanger due to their high gas permeability and heat conductivity provided that skins properly attach to the foam’s struts on the surface. In the current study, a novel process was successfully developed to fill pores on the surface of the foam sheet in order to deposit skin on the foam specimens by thermal spraying. Nickel based superalloy (Inconel 625) skins were deposited on each side of a sheet of nickel metal foam with different pore densities of 10 and 20 pores per inch by high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF), atmospheric plasma spraying (APS), and twin wire arc spraying to form a sandwich structure. The sandwich structure can be used in high temperature heat exchanger applications. The penetration of the coating materials into the foam struts can be controlled through the filling process before spraying. The microstructure of the skins and the adhesion at the interface between the nickel foam’s struts and skins were characterized. Results showed dense skins with good adhesion to the surfaces of the foam. The foam’s struts were imbedded into the coatings deposited by HVOF more deeply than the coatings deposited by APS and wire arc spraying. Skins deposited by HVOF and wire arc spraying showed higher bending strength than the skin deposited by APS due to lower porosity and oxidecontent in the coating.