A special vitreous enamel coating suitable for use in air preheater heating elements (waste heat recovery system) in boilers of thermal power plants has been developed. The preparation of coating materials, techniques of application, evaluation and characterization of the coating and prediction of life expectancy using a mathematical model based on Brandon’s method have been reported.

A process for application of abrasion- or corrosion-resistant glass-ceramic coating materials on metal substrate by electrophoretic deposition technique in an aqueous medium has been described. The effects of various process parameters, e.g. coating material concentration, time of deposition, applied current, pH of the suspension and concentration of the polymeric dispersant on the deposition efficiency have been studied. The process has been studied using a 2³-factorial design technique of three independent variables; i.e. coating material concentration, applied current, and the time taken to achieve the best combination. The regression equation obtained explains the experimental results satisfactorily.

The corrosion resistant oxide coatings, developed and applied by the conventional vitreous enamelling techniques, showed superior resistance to a range of mineral acids at various strengths and temperatures, alkaline solutions, boiling water and chrome plating solutions. These coatings possess considerable abrasion and impact resistance as well as high thermal shock resistance. The properties of the coating system have been studied in detail and found to be strongly dependent on composition and processing parameters. These coatings have been characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis and SEM studies. Some of the coating materials have been found to be biocompatible.

A new high temperature and abrasion resistant glass–ceramic coating system (based on MgO–Al₂O₃–TiO₂ and ZnO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ based glass systems) for gas turbine engine components has been developed. Thermal shock resistance, adherence at 90°-bend test and static oxidation resistance at the required working temperature (1000°C) for continuous service and abrasion resistance are evaluated using suitable standard methods. The coating materials and the resultant coatings are characterized using differential thermal analysis, differential thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The properties evaluated clearly showed the suitability of these coatings for protection of different hot zone components in different types of engines. XRD analysis of the coating materials and the resultant coatings showed presence of a number of microcrystalline phases. SEM micrographs indicate strong chemical bonding at the metal–ceramic interface. Optical micrographs showed smooth glossy impervious defect free surface finish.

The effect of fuel characteristics on the processing of nano sized calcium hydroxyapatite (HA) fine powders by the solution combustion technique is reported. Urea, glycine and glucose were used as fuels in this study. By using different combinations of urea and glycine fuels and occasional addition of small amounts of highly water-soluble glucose, the flame temperature (𝑇_f) of the process as well as product characteristics could be controlled easily. The powders obtained by this modified solution combustion technique were characterized by XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, FESEM–EDX, particle size analyser (PSD) and specific surface area (SSA) measurements. The particle size of phase pure HA powder was found to be < 20 nm in this investigation. The effects of glucose addition with stoichiometric (𝜇 = 1) and fuel excess (𝜇 > 1) urea and glycine precursor batches were investigated separately.

Diamond-like nanocomposite (DLN) coatings have been deposited over different substrates used for biomedical applications by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). DLN has an interconnecting network of amorphous hydrogenated carbon and quartz-like oxygenated silicon. Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform–infra red (FT–IR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used for structural characterization. Typical DLN growth rate is about 1 𝜇m/h, measured by stylus profilometer. Due to the presence of quartz-like Si:O in the structure, it is found to have very good adhesive property with all the substrates. The adhesion strength found to be as high as 0.6 N on SS 316 L steel substrates by scratch testing method. The Young’s modulus and hardness have found to be 132 GPa and 14.4 GPa, respectively. DLN coatings have wear factor in the order of 1 × 10^-7 mm³/N-m. This coating has found to be compatible with all important biomedical substrate materials and has successfully been deposited over Co–Cr alloy based knee implant of complex shape.

Diamond coatings were deposited on silicon (100) substrate using the microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD) technique at different process conditions. Process parameters such as CH₄–H₂ gas mixture concentration, microwave power, chamber pressure and substrate temperature were varied. The diamond coatings were characterized by micro-Raman and micro-photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy techniques. In this paper we report a comparison of the overall quality of MPCVD polycrystalline diamond coatings grown under different processing conditions in terms of stress distribution, thickness uniformity and surface roughness. Micro-Raman spectroscopy studies over various points on the deposited coating showed that the Raman line widths of diamond peak varied from 3.2 to 18.3 cm⁻¹ with the variation of CH₄ and H₂ gas concentration. The micro-PL spectra suggested the presence of impurity concentration and defects within the diamond coating synthesized at different processing conditions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images provide the direct evidence of the presence of crystal defects which corroborates the Raman and PL results. The coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) showed that surface roughness of diamond coating varied from 0.43 to 11 𝜇m with thickness at different positions of the three coating samples. It has been concluded that Raman line-width broadening and Raman-shift are due to the presence of crystal defects as well as non-uniform distribution of stresses present in the diamond crystals of the coating, due to the incorporation of Si as impurity element and non-uniform temperature distribution during growth. Defect density gets reduced at higher processing temperatures. It is also being proposed that better thickness uniformity and lower surface roughness can be achieved for coatings deposited at low methane concentration under optimized process conditions.

Diamond coatings were grown on SiO₂/Si substrate under various process conditions by microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD) using CH₄/H₂ gas mixture. In this paper, we present a microstructural study to elucidate on the growth mechanism and evolution of defects, viz., strain, dislocations, stacking faults, twins and non-diamond impurities in diamond coatings grown under different process conditions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the diamond coatings. It has been shown that our new approach of prolonged substrate pre-treatment under hydrogen plasma yielded a new growth sequence that the SiO₂ layer on the Si substrate was first reduced to yield Si layer of ∼150 nm thickness before diamond was allowed to grow under CH₄–H₂ plasma, created subsequently. It has also been shown that Si and O as impurity from the substrate hinders the initial diamond growth to yield non-diamond phases. It is being suggested that the crystal defects like twins, stacking faults, dislocations in the diamond grains and dislocations in the intermediate Si layer are generated due to the development of non-uniform stresses during diamond growth at high temperature.