Characterization of wear damage in coatings by optical profilometry

The accurate determination of the volume loss of plasma- sprayed coatings submitted to abrasive and erosive wear and the visualization of wear track or crater profiles are of major concern when ranking coatings, developing wear- resistant coatings, or identifying the mechanism responsible for failure. The determination of the volume loss by liquid displacement measurements is impractical when the size of coated pieces is large and the volume loss is small. For evaluating coating damage and directly measuring the volume loss, a three- dimensional surface mapping method is proposed. The three- dimensional image of the worn surface is obtained by a laser triangulation method. The experimental setup is basically composed of an illuminating source and a detecting device. The light source is focused on the sample surface, and the reflected light is then collected on a network of charge couple detectors linked to a computer. Because the spot location on the network is a direct function of the measured height, a three- dimensional image can be obtained after scanning the entire damaged surface so that the volume loss can be calculated easily. Intensity- coded depth images of the worn surface and computerized cross sections of the damaged area can also be obtained. Inspection of coatings damaged by abrasion wear or slurry erosion by optical profilometry reveals that the volume loss measurements by this technique are very accurate as opposed to the volume measured by liquid displacement methods or calculated from weight loss measurements. Moreover, intensity- coded depth images of worn surfaces and computerized cross sections of damaged areas provide relevant information about the coating performance or defects resulting from the deposition process.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye