Influence of the spray angle on thermally sprayed heating coatings

Abstract Temperature control of mould surfaces is of high relevance for part quality in moulding processes. Due to highly dynamic heating behaviour, heating elements applied by thermal spraying can be an alternative to existing tempering methods. To ensure the feasibility of these heating coatings on industry‐relevant moulds, the coating system needs to be applied onto more demanding non‐flat geometries. For this purpose, the spray angle of the plasma spraying process is varied during the application of the titanium oxide/chromium oxide heating coating and the insulating aluminium oxide coating. Subsequently, the results are related to application‐oriented cavity shapes. Spray angle deviations from the optimal perpendicular angle are leading to decreasing dielectric strength of the coating system and an increase of the electrical resistivity. Additionally, the application efficiency reduces with the spray angle variation. Knowledge of the spray angle's influence on coating properties can help to coat more demanding shapes, including free formed surfaces or corners.