Establishing empirical relationships to predict porosity level and corrosion rate of atmospheric plasma-sprayed alumina coatings on AZ31B magnesium alloy

Plasma sprayed ceramic coatings are successfully used in many industrial applications, where high wear and corrosion resistance with thermal insulation are required. In this work, empirical relationships were developed to predict the porosity and corrosion rate of alumina coatings by incorporating independently controllable atmospheric plasma spray operational parameters (input power, stand-off distance and powder feed rate) using response surface methodology (RSM). A central composite rotatable design with three factors and five levels was chosen to minimize the number of experimental conditions. Within the scope of the design space, the input power and the stand-off distance appeared to be the most significant two parameters affecting the responses among the three investigated process parameters. A linear regression relationship was also established between porosity and corrosion rate of the alumina coatings. Further, sensitivity analysis was carried out and compared with the relative impact of three process parameters on porosity level and corrosion rate to verify the measurement errors on the values of the uncertainty in estimated parameters.