Application of advanced plasma technology to energy materials and environmental problems

Abstract

Advanced plasma system has been proposed for various energy materials and for its application to environmental problems. The gas tunnel type plasma device developed by the author exhibits high energy density and also high efficiency. Regarding the application to thermal processing, one example is the plasma spraying of ceramics such as Al 2 O 3 and ZrO 2 as thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). The performances of these ceramic coatings are superior to conventional ones, namely, the properties such as the mechanical and chemical properties, thermal behavior and high temperature oxidation resistance of the alumina/zirconia thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) have been clarified and discussed. The ZrO 2 composite coating has a possibility for the development of high functionally graded TBC. The results showed that the alumina/zirconia composite system exhibited an improvement of mechanical properties and oxidation resistance. Another application of gas tunnel type plasma to a functional material is the surface modification of metals. TiN films were formed in a short time of 5 s on Ti and its alloy. Also, thick TiN coatings were easily obtained by gas tunnel type plasma reactive spraying on any metals. Regarding the application to the environmental problems, the decomposition of CO 2 gas is also introduced by applying the gas tunnel type plasma system.