Laser stealth and laser protection properties of oxide-carbide coatings prepared by atmospheric plasma spraying

With the development of laser technology, laser-related materials have been widely studied. Both laser stealth coatings and laser protective coatings are currently the focus of attention. However, less research has been done on laser stealth and protective integrated coatings. In this paper, plasma-sprayed Y₂O₃–Ti₃AlC₂ coatings were prepared with low-power (LP) and high-power (HP) parameters, and their laser stealth and laser protection properties were characterized. The LP coating and HP coating appeared to have lower reflectivity at 1064 nm because a low-reflectivity second phase and many loose flocs on the surface are introduced, which indicates excellent laser stealth performance. When irradiated by a laser, the LP coating exhibited excellent laser protection ability, and its reflectivity increased after irradiation because Ti₃AlC₂ oxidized and decomposed and densely arranged small particles formed on the surface. The LP coating perfectly protected the 500-W laser irradiation for 20 s. In addition, the laser damage threshold of the LP coating was 5.599 s at 1000-W laser irradiation, which indicates that the LP Y₂O₃–Ti₃AlC₂ coating is a potential material with laser stealth and laser protection integration.