ABSTRACT
Although aluminum (Al) and its alloys have an advantage of high specific strength, their applicability is limited due to relatively low hardness and low wear, corrosion, and heat resistance. The surface modification route provides an interesting platform to achieve the required engineering properties. In this direction, depositing different coatings, broadly classified as metallic, ceramic, cermet, composite, and functional material, on Al alloys using various thermal spray techniques is discussed with more emphasis on the electrical, thermal, wear, corrosion, and fatigue properties. The choice of techniques, namely plasma, high-velocity oxy-fuel, detonation, and cold spray is discussed based on the coating material type and application requirements. This article presents a brief summary of numerous studies reported under the aforementioned material categories, highlighting the influence of feedstock chemistry, spray parameters on various properties of coatings, resulting functional performance along with the potential applications in diverse industrial segments.
