Tubular Flame Shield for Amorphous Coating Oxidation Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-velocity oxy-fuel flame spray coating techniques struggle to form amorphous coating films on metals with high melting points and narrow supercooling temperature ranges due to incomplete melting of particles and oxidation, limiting the range of usable metals and resulting in a bulky apparatus that is difficult to handle.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with a tubular member integrated along the flame path to shield the flame from atmospheric air, using a cooling gas to prevent oxidation and facilitate complete melting, and a compact design with coaxial pipes for efficient cooling gas flow, allowing the use of metals with high melting points and reducing oxide production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional flame spray coating is used without cooling gas, then the apparatus structure is simple, but particles cannot be completely melted and oxidation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
A tubular member is introduced as an intermediary component between the flame spray gun and the base material. This tubular member provides a protected path for the flame and particles, preventing direct contact with atmospheric air while allowing the flame to heat and melt particles effectively. The tubular member acts as a mediator that enables complete melting without requiring complex external cooling systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The tubular member creates an inert or protected atmosphere environment along the flame path, shielding the burning flame and molten particles from atmospheric oxygen. This prevents oxidation of particles during the melting and flight process, allowing complete melting to occur without the harmful effects of oxidation that would otherwise require complex protective gas systems.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If cooling gas is blown around the flame to prevent oxidation, then oxide production is suppressed, but the apparatus becomes large and bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The protective function is merged into the tubular member itself rather than requiring separate external cooling gas conduits. The tubular member combines the functions of flame guidance, particle protection, and oxidation prevention into a single integrated component, eliminating the need for bulky external cooling systems while maintaining effective protection against oxidation.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling gas system is extracted and replaced by the tubular member's inherent protective function. Instead of using external cooling gas conduits surrounding the flame path, the invention extracts the protection function and implements it through the tubular member that directs and shields the flame, resulting in a compact apparatus without bulky external cooling components.
3Device complexity
If the flame is allowed to contact atmospheric air during particle melting, then the apparatus structure is simple, but particles undergo oxidation
Solution Approach 1:
The tubular member creates an inert or protected atmosphere environment along the flame path, shielding the burning flame and molten particles from atmospheric oxygen. This prevents oxidation of particles during the melting and flight process while maintaining a relatively simple apparatus structure without complex external protective systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The tubular member serves as an intermediary barrier between the flame/particles and atmospheric air. It provides a protected channel that allows the flame to heat particles to melting point while preventing direct contact with atmospheric oxygen, thus suppressing oxide production in the resulting coating film.
4Adaptability or versatility
If metals with high melting points are used as flame spray material, then the coating film has better properties, but particles are difficult to melt completely
Solution Approach 1:
The tubular member acts as an intermediary that extends and concentrates the thermal field along the flame path. By providing a protected environment and directing the flame energy more effectively, it enables complete melting of high melting point metal particles that would otherwise remain partially unmelted in conventional open flame systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The protected atmosphere within the tubular member allows sustained combustion of the flame without oxidation of particles. This enables the flame to reach and maintain the high temperatures necessary for complete melting of high melting point metals, expanding the range of usable flame spray materials beyond what is possible in conventional oxidizing atmospheric conditions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the formation of high-grade amorphous coating films with improved corrosion resistance, using a compact apparatus that is easier to handle, and allows for the use of metals with high melting points and narrow supercooling temperature ranges, while suppressing oxide production.
Implementation Method 1
cooling both the particles and the flame by means of a cooling gas before they reach the base material
Implementation Method 2
a tubular member provided at a melting zone...so as to shield the flame from an atmospheric air in the melting zone
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an apparatus for forming an amorphous coating film by jetting flame containing particles of a flame spray material from a flame spray gun toward a base material, causing the particles to be melted by the flame, and cooling both the particles and the flame with the means of a cooling gas before they reach the base material. The apparatus includes a tubular member provided among the path along which the flame is jetted that it surrounds the flame passing through a melting zone in which the particles are melted. The tubular member has a flow channel for the cooling gas, formed along and integrally to the tubular member. The apparatus has the following advantages: a variety of metals including those ones having high melting points and narrow supercooling temperature ranges can be used to form an amorphous coating film on a base material; the apparatus can be made compact; and production of oxides is suppressed.