Plasma-spray forming ceramics and layered composites

In a program at the Thermal Spray Laboratory at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, both conventional gas-stabilized plasma and high-throughput water-stabilized plasma spray torches are being used to produce thick free-standing structures of oxide ceramics, metal-reinforced ceramic laminates, and multilayered or functionally graded ceramic materials. The results of the processing, microstructure, and properties of freeforms produced from ceramics in the alumina, zirconia, and alumina-zirconia system are reported.