Abstract
For the purpose of aerospace applications of light materials, functional metal coatings such as Cu, Ni and Ti were formed on plastic substrates by using a gas tunnel type plasma spraying. Metal coatings with more than 100 um in thickness were successfully deposited on PET surfaces by the gas tunnel type plasma spraying under selective operating conditions using a power of 10 kW or less. The microstructure and mechanical properties of these high functional coatings were clarified under various conditions. Also, a small power of 3kW gas tunnel type plasma spraying apparatus was developed by improving the plasma torch design, and it was applied to plasma spraying of Cu metal materials. As a result, good quality Cu coatings of 50-100 um in thickness were obtained on the plastic substrate, with almost no oxidation of Cu under the small power operating condition.
