Fast and Nondestructive Mechanical Characterization of Thermally Sprayed and Laser Cladded Coatings: Automated Surface Acoustic Wave Spectroscopy as a New Tool for Quality Control and Research

Laser-induced surface acoustic wave spectroscopy (LISAWS) allows quick and nondestructive evaluation of the elastic properties such as the Young’s modulus of coatings, surfaces and surface-near bulk materials. Furthermore, the mechanical weakening due to cracks and pores can be evaluated, as they influence the propagation of surface waves as well. This makes the method a fast, accurate and versatile tool for surface characterization, and it is increasingly used in research and development, and quality control. The short measurement time of the LISAWS method allows the time-efficient distribution of the effective Young's modulus over the coated surface to be determined. For this purpose, an industrial LAwave measurement system was automated to allow for processing of a larger number of samples and fast mappings. The investigated coating materials were thermally sprayed Al₂O₃ insulation coatings and WC-reinforced 316L steel coatings on brake disks produced by laser cladding, respectively. For the Al₂O₃ coatings, the correlation between the Young's modulus and its areal distribution is shown for different process parameters, such as spray gun movement direction or spray distance, and compared with results from pull-off tests. For the WC/316L-coated brake disks, the distribution of the wave velocity over the coated surfaces or the two coated sides of different disks with varying coating qualities is used to assess the coating quality and homogeneity.