Analysis of EMAA Splats on Glass and Mild Steel Substrates

Thermal spray coatings are composed of millions of heated particles driven at high velocities onto a substrate, thereby building up and forming a consolidated coating. Thus, investigating single solidified droplets contributes to the fundamental understanding of the evolution of a surface coating and its properties. In this study, the single splat morphology and thermal characteristics of flame-sprayed ethylene methacrylic acid (EMAA) splats, deposited at various stand-off distances onto glass and mild steel substrates, are investigated using scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermal gravimetric analysis. This study indicates that the microstructure of EMAA coatings can be controlled by judicially selecting the thermal spray parameters rather than by using the trial and error methods that are often used at present.