Thermal Spray Processing: Process Diagnostics and Control by Artificial Intelligence

热喷涂是用于制造高性能金属和陶瓷涂层的一系列工艺，这些涂层在各种工业应用中使用。它们包括将粉末形式的材料送入火焰或等离子中，火焰或等离子以熔融的形式高速投射到待涂覆的零件上。热喷涂涂层在航空航天、能源和自然资源领域尤为重要，这些都是加拿大经济的关键贡献者。 NSERC发现资助奖将在未来五年内实施的研究计划将重点放在一种名为悬浮等离子喷涂(SPS)的新兴且非常强大的热喷涂技术上。在SPS中，陶瓷涂层材料以微米和亚微米颗粒的形式应用。这使得涂层的微观结构以及它们的热、电和物理特性可以高度定制，以满足非常具体和多样化的最终用户要求，包括特定的“功能”。因此，它有可能大幅增加热喷雾的使用和价值。 热喷涂本质上是一个复杂的过程，SPS有两个特点使其有别于目前更成熟的过程：非常小的颗粒尺寸和颗粒悬浮在液体中时被注入的事实。该研究计划将发展关于SPS工艺各个阶段的基础知识，以实现对工艺的精确和可靠的裁剪和控制，以生产高度定制化的涂层微结构。这涉及理论和实验研究的结合，后者使用康科迪亚大学热喷雾实验室的现代设备，以及康科迪亚大学和其他当地大学的电子显微镜。所产生的知识将使定制传感器的开发能够用于工业规模的应用。将首次使用现代人工智能(AI)技术来定制SPS涂层的组织和性能，以期在工业上实施这样的控制策略。 文化和性别多元化的学生和其他高素质人员(HQP)将直接参与理论和实践研究，并在三名教授的监督下承担具体责任。学生们还将参加国内和国际会议，介绍他们的工作，并接受“软技能”培训，为他们未来的职业生涯做好准备。 SPS有可能为加拿大经济、可持续发展和环境做出重大贡献。应用包括用于飞机发动机的性能更高的隔热和环境屏障涂料，这对降低客机的燃油消耗和环境影响至关重要；用于水净化等应用的膜；分离包括二氧化碳在内的气体；以及用于氢电解的涂料。

Thermal spray is a family of processes used to manufacture high performance metallic and ceramic coatings that are used in a wide variety of industrial applications. They involve feeding the material in powder form into a flame or plasma that projects it in molten form at high speed against the part to be coated. Thermal spray coatings are particularly important in aerospace, energy and natural resources, key contributors to the Canadian economy. The research program that will be performed over the next five years with this NSERC Discovery Grant award will focus on an emerging and very powerful thermal spray technology named Suspension Plasma Spray (SPS). In SPS, the ceramic coating material is applied in the form of micron- and submicron-size particles. This allows the microstructure of the coatings, and hence their thermal, electric and physical characteristics, to be highly customized to meet very specific and diverse end-user requirements including specific “functionality”. It thus has the potential to substantially increase the use and value of thermal spray. Thermal spray is an inherently complex process, and SPS has two characteristics that distinguish it from current more mature processes; the very small particle size and the fact that the particles are injected when suspended in a liquid. This research program will develop the fundamental knowledge about the various phases of the SPS process to allow precise and reliable tailoring and control of the process to produce highly customized coating microstructures. This involves a combination of theoretical and experimental research, the latter using modern equipment in the thermal spray laboratory at Concordia University and electron microscopes at Concordia and other local universities. The knowledge generated will allow the development of customised sensors that will be used in industrial scale applications. For the first time, modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques will be used to tailor the SPS coating microstructure and properties with the objective of implementing such a control strategy in industry. A culturally and gender diverse group of students and other Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) will be directly involved in both theoretical and practical research and given specific responsibilities under the supervision of three professors. Students will also attend national and international conferences to present their work, and be given “soft skills” training, preparing them for future careers. SPS has the potential to make major contributions to the Canadian economy, and to sustainability and the environment. Applications include higher performing thermal and environmental barrier coatings for aircraft engines, critical to reducing fuel consumption and environmental impact of passenger aircraft; membranes for applications such as water purification; separation of gasses including carbon dioxide; and coatings for hydrogen electrolysis.