Abstract
Obtaining a uniform coating on curved mechanical parts such as gas turbine blades is one of the industrial challenges in suspension plasma spraying. Through a three dimensional numerical analysis, this study is aimed at providing a better understanding of the effect of substrate curvature on in-flight particle temperature, velocity, and trajectory. The high temperature and high velocity plasma flow is simulated inside the plasma torch using a uniform volumetric heat source in the energy equation. The suspension of yttria-stabilized zirconia particles is molded as a multicomponent droplet while catastrophic breakup regime is considered for simulating the secondary break up when the suspension interacts with the plasma flow. A two-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach along with a stochastic discrete model was used to track the particle trajectory. Particle size distribution in the vicinity of the substrate at different stand-off distances has been investigated. The results show that sub-micron particles obtain higher velocity and temperature compared to the larger particles. However, due to the small Stokes number associated with sub-micron particles, they are more sensitive to the change of the gas flow streamlines in the vicinity of a curved substrate.
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The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Canada Research Chairs program.
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This article is an invited paper selected from presentations at the 2015 International Thermal Spray Conference, held May 11–14, 2015, in Long Beach, California, USA, and has been expanded from the original presentation.
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Pourang, K., Moreau, C. & Dolatabadi, A. Effect of Substrate and Its Shape on in-Flight Particle Characteristics in Suspension Plasma Spraying. J Therm Spray Tech 25, 44–54 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-015-0342-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-015-0342-z