PLASMA COATING FORMATION BY THE DEPOSITION OF CATHODE MATERIAL ERODED THROUGH HIGH-CURRENT PULSED DISCHARGE

The paper analyzes the conditions for the formation of a coating obtained using an electrothermal axial plasma accelerator due to plasma transfer of cathode erosion products. It is shown that by using a cathode of low-melting materials with a high-current pulsed discharge, microdrops are formed and injected from the accelerator falling into the surface to be treated. When colliding with the surface, the drops acquire near-disk shape with a radius of up to 100 μm, cooling on the substrate at a speed of up to 108 K/s. This leads to the formation in the drops of a supersatu-rated solid solution with nonequilibrium structure. The subsequent heat treatment of the coating can result in harden-ing phases precipitation from solid solution causing the increase in coating microhardness.