Simplified 2D thermo-mechanical modelling of splat formation in plasma spraying processes

Abstract

Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 30 June - 2 July, 2008.

The particles projected by arc plasma are generally of micrometric size (ranging in general between 10 and 100 μm) in conventional projection and their impact velocity ranges from 50 to 350 m/s. characteristic times for the formation of a splate are very short: less than 5 μs for the duration of spreading of the particle melted with a solidification which can start before the end of the spreading stage and continues in general between 0.8 and 10 μs after the impact.This work is devoted to studying numerically this complex coupling. The model is firstly validated in comparison with available results of particles spreading (large size and low impact velocity < 1 m/s).