ermal spray as a recovery process has its origin
early in the 20th century with the invention of the
Schoop-Günther metallization process in 1917 [1].
"is process was #rst applied to materials with low
melting points, such as Tin or Lead, and was later
extended to refractory metals and ceramics. It is one
of the most versatile techniques for the application
of coating materials used in protecting mechanical
components from abrasive wear, adhesion, erosion,
corrosion (such as that caused by sea water), and
fatigue [2]. In the electric arc process, two wires
from the coating material to be deposited are
conducted simultaneously to a point of contact,
where a gas is sprayed to project the liquid metal
as molten droplets onto the coating surface [3].
Electric arc thermal spraying is one of the most
economic techniques to apply corrosion resistant
metal coatings with high-quality adherence and
chemical composition [4]. Low energy costs
and high production rates makes this technique
competitive, compared with other projection
systems such as plasma and $ame thermal spray
[5.6]. Furthermore, the parameters used in the
electric arc thermal spray system (voltage, current,
air pressure and projection distance) can be
optimized for speci#c applications [7].