The deformation and fracture behaviors of both Al2O3 and Ni 4.5wt.%Al plasma thermal spray coating were investigated by an acoustic emission method. Plasma thermal spray coating is formed by a process in which melted particles flying with high speed towards substrate, then crash and spread on the substrate surface cooled and solidified in a very short time, stacking of the particles makes coating. A tensile test is conducted on notch specimens in a stress range below the elastic limit of substrate. A bendind test is done on smooth specimens. The waveforms of AE generated from the both test coating specimens can be classified by FFT analysis into two types which low frequency(type I) and high frequency(type II). The type I waveform is considered to corresponds exfoliation of coating layers and type II waveform corresponds the plastic deformation of notch tip. The fracture of the coating layers can estimate by AE event and amplitude, because AE features increase when the deformation generates.