Effect of Substrate and Its Shape on in-Flight Particle Characteristics in Suspension Plasma Spraying

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.