coatings Review Porosity and Its Significance in Plasma-Sprayed Coatings John Gerald Odhiambo 1,2 , WenGe Li 1,*, YuanTao Zhao 1,* and ChengLong Li 1 1 Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Merchant Marine College, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China 2 Marine Engineering and Maritime Operations, School of Mechanical, Manufacturing & Materials Engineering, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. Box 62000-00200 Nairobi, Kenya * Correspondence:
[email protected] (W.L.);
[email protected] (Y.Z.); Tel.: +86-139-1799-6912 (W.L.); +86-151-2116-7661 (Y.Z.) Received: 11 June 2019; Accepted: 16 July 2019; Published: 23 July 2019 Abstract: Porosity in plasma-sprayed coatings is vital for most engineering applications. Porosity has its merits and demerits depending on the functionality of the coating and the immediate working environment. Consequently, the formation mechanisms and development of porosity have been extensively explored to find out modes of controlling porosity in plasma-sprayed coatings. In this work, a comprehensive review of porosity on plasma-sprayed coatings is established. The formation and development of porosity on plasma-sprayed coatings are governed by set spraying parameters. Optimized set spraying parameters have been used to achieve the most favorable coatings with minimum defects. Even with the optimized set spraying parameters, defects like porosity still occur. Here, we discuss other ways that can be used to control porosity in plasma-sprayed coating with emphasis to atmospheric plasma-sprayed chromium oxide coatings. Techniques like multilayer coatings, nanostructured coatings, doping with rare earth elements, laser surface re-melting and a combination of the above methods have been suggested in adjusting porosity.