Metallurgical engineering careers in thermal spray

The field of thermal spray coatings is an exciting area for students of metallurgical engineering that are looking for a career filled with new developments. The traditional fields of foundry metallurgy both ferrous and non-ferrous foundry applications, the metallurgy of heat treating, welding, brazing, etc are always there for the metallurgist to get involved in. However, thermal spray coatings is an exciting field for metallurgists that covers commercial industrial areas as well as aerospace and medical areas of industry.

Thermal spray coatings allow the alteration of surface behavior of components by the application of a variety of materials to a variety of substrates. You could coat a metal-polymer composite coating on to a metallic substrate or conversely you could coat a metallic coating on to a polymer substrate! This is possible because the surface being coated does not get very hot during the coating process. Parts that have already been brazed and heat treated can be successfully thermal sprayed without deteriorating the metallurgical characteristics of the substrate material. Unlike electroplating, thermal spray processes do not generate a tremendous amount of hazardous waste streams whose disposal costs can be prohibitive.

The metallurgy of thermal sprayed coatings is a field in itself. Thermal sprayed coatings inherently exhibit porosity and metallurgical polishing techniques that differentiate between inherent porosity in the coating versus artificially induced porosity by poor polishing techniques is a major problem for metallurgists. One could study the interfacial metallurgical phenomena between the coating and the substrate, especially in certain thermal sprayed coatings that are subjected to a post coating heat treatment. Porosity and void migration in thermal spray coatings subjected to high temperatures during service is another field of interest for metallurgical researchers. Stresses and stress reduction in thermal spray coatings is more of a mechanical metallurgy interdisciplinary area of research and this is one where the aspiring metallurgist can make a career in. All in all, looking more into the aspects of thermal spray careers should be seriously considered all budding metallurgists!