Glass-alumina Functionally Graded Materials produced by plasma-spraying

The present work was focused on glass-alumina functionally graded materials. Thesamples, produced by plasma spraying, were built as multi-layered systems by depositing severallayers of slightly different composition, since their alumina and glass content was progressivelychanged. After fabricating the graded materials, several, proper characterization techniques were setup to investigate the gradient in composition, microstructure and related performances. A particularattention was paid to the observation of the graded cross sections by scanning electron microscopy,which allowed to visualize directly the graded microstructural changes. The scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM) inspection was integrated with accurate mechanical measurements, such assystematic depth-sensing Vickers microindentation tests performed on the graded cross sections.