A crystalline diamond film is formed on a thin substrate. Energy is applied by a thermal plasma torch to a gas mixture to deposit carbon particles onto the substrate. The substrate is positioned on a pedestal with a cooling facility in which an intermediate layer of thermally conductive powder is interposed between the substrate and the pedestal.

A cylinder member for an internal combustion engine such as a valve, piston, cylinder liner or seat portion. The member has a welded high temperature corrosion resistant facing alloy with a hardness increased by use of a precipitation hardening mechanism based on a solid state phase transformation. The facing alloy has a temperature of activation of the precipitation hardening mechanism that is above the operating temperature of the alloy. The participation hardening mechanism acts so slowly that the alloy has not hardened at welding on the cylinder member Hardening occurs during a subsequent heat treatment at a temperature higher than the activation temperature for the participation hardening mechanism.

A method metallurgically bonds a thin film of easily amorphized material on a metallic substrate having a large thermal conductivity, and then irradiates all or selected portions of the thin film with a pulse laser. The irradiated portions become amorphous by rapidly heating and cooling. Therefore, a whole surface which is an amorphous layer or a part of a surface which is an amorphous layer is obtained. In the latter, a porous amorphous metal layer is obtained by subsequent acid elution and by removing the non-amorphous part.

An electrical heating system uses heating elements made of ribbons of amorphous metallic alloys. The heating elements have a large area using long and wide ribbons, to achieve good heat transfer to the surroundings, that is low thermal resistance. The area of the heating elements and thus the thermal resistance is determined according to the desired thermal power, under the constraint of a low operating temperature, that is a temperature well below the embrittlement temperature of the amorphous alloy used in the heating elements. The operating temperature is preferably kept low enough so as not to generate benzopyrene or other unhealthy or ecologically unfavorable fumes or gases. The thin ribbons with low thermal resistance also have a fast heating constant, that is the heater reaches its steady state temperature in a short time. The electrical heating system uses low cost insulation and support materials, that is materials intended for use at low temperatures only. Further cost reduction is achieved by making the heating elements of lower cost alloys, that is alloys capable of withstanding oxidation only at low temperatures. The heating elements undergo treatment using the Manov process of overheating the melted alloy to a precise temperature prior to rapid quenching, to achieve more reliable ribbons with more reproducible characteristics.

The present invention thus provides an improved method for coating turbine engine components. The method utilizes a cold high velocity gas spray technique to coat turbine blades, compressor blades, impellers, blisks, and other turbine engine components. These methods can be used to coat a variety of surfaces thereon, thus improving the overall durability, reliability and performance of the turbine engine itself. The method includes the deposition of powders of alloys of nickel and aluminum wherein the powders are formed so as to have an amorphous microstructure. Layers of the alloys may be deposited and built up by cold high velocity gas spraying. The coated items displayed improved characteristics such as hardness, strength, and corrosion resistance.