The Paton Welding Journal, 2026, №05

2026 №05 (06)

DOI of Article 10.37434/tpwj2026.05.01

2026 №05 (02)

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The Paton Welding Journal, 2026, #5, 3-9 pages

Formation of coatings containing MAX-phases under thermal spraying conditions of TiC‒TiH₂‒Al powder

N.V. Vihilianska¹, T.V. Tsymbalista¹, O.P. Gryshchenko¹, I.O. Koziakov¹, O.Y. Gudymenko²

¹E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NASU. 11 Kazymyr Malevych Str., 03150, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: pewinataliya@gmail.com
²V.E. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the NASU 45 Prosp. Nauky, 02000, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract
The study investigates the formation of coatings via plasma spraying (PS) and high-velocity oxyfuel spraying (HVOF) using a TiH2–Al–TiC powder system. The composite powder was obtained by processing a powder mixture of the initial components TiH2, Al and TiC in a planetary mill for 5 h, resulting in the formation of agglomerated particles with a size of <40 μm. The resulting composite powder contains the initial components of the mixture and the products of their interaction — titanium aluminide Ti3Al, and MAX-phase carbide (Ti3AlC, Ti2AlC). The coatings, produced by plasma and high-velocity oxyfuel spraying methods, were investigated using X-ray phase analysis, optical microscopy and microhardness testing. It has been established that during plasma spraying, the phase composition of the produced coating differs significantly from that of the MChS powder used for spraying. The coating retains a TiC phase, but in a smaller quantity than in the initial powder, and contains a TiCN phase, which was formed during the interaction of nitrogen atoms with TiC as the powder passed through the plasma jet of powder particles and came into contact with the gaseous medium. Peaks for Al, the MAX-phase of Ti2AlC and Ti3AlC carbide were not detected in the X-ray diffraction pattern, which is likely associated with the intense oxidation of the powder particles, resulting in the formation of titanium oxide TiO2 in two forms (rutile and anatase) and aluminium oxide Al2O3. The coating contains Ti3Al and TiH2 phases in negligible amounts, which are present in the initial MChS powder. The plasma coating has a lamellar light structure with voids in the form of spalling (11 %) and contains unmelted fine powder particles. In high-velocity oxyfuel spraying, the phase composition of the coating differs only slightly from that of the initial powder; the coating inherits the phase composition of the initial MChS powder, as no new compounds are formed apart from oxides. The coating structure is thin-lamellar, consisting of light-coloured metallic and grey oxide layers, with a small amount of unmelted particles and a porosity of (~2 %). The microhardness of TiC‒TiH2‒Al system coatings is 5400±1060 MPa for the PS coating and 3710±950 MPa for the HVOF coating.
Keywords: coatings, plasma spraying, high-velocity oxyfuel spraying, MAX-phase, mechanochemical synthesis, phase composition, structure, microhardness

Received: 25.05.2025
Received in revised form: 24.11.2025
Accepted: 14.05.2026

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Suggested Citation

N.V. Vihilianska, T.V. Tsymbalista, O.P. Gryshchenko, I.O. Koziakov, O.Y. Gudymenko (2026) Formation of coatings containing MAX-phases under thermal spraying conditions of TiC‒TiH₂‒Al powder. The Paton Welding J., 05, 3-9. https://doi.org/10.37434/tpwj2026.05.01

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