Axial flow laser plasma spraying

Abstract

A laser plasma spray apparatus for depositing a feed material onto a substrate includes a nozzle having a plasma confinement chamber into which a laser beam is focused, the focal point being at a distance sufficiently far from the substrate that the substrate is not melted. Finely divided feed material in a carrier gas flow is fed axially into the confinement chamber along the direction of the laser beam and melted in the plasma formed in the interaction of the laser beam, the feed material, and the gas at the focal point. The melted feed material is then directed to deposit onto the substrate, while the plasma energy is largely confined within the apparatus by the confinement chamber and a constriction in the flow path upstream of the confinement chamber.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.