A Study on Evolution of Splat Radius and Temperature in Thermal Spray Process

Abstract

The impact process of a molten metal droplet impinging on a solid substrate surface is encountered in several technological applications such as ink-jet printing, spray cooling, coating processes, spray deposition of metal alloys, thermal spray coatings, manufacturing processes and fabrication and in industrial applications concerning thermal spray processes. Deposition of a molten material or metal in form of a droplet on a substrate surface by propelling it towards it forms the core of the spraying process. During the impact process, the molten metal droplet spreads radially and simultaneously starts losing heat due to heat transfer to the substrate surface. The associated heat transfer influences impingement behavior. The physics of droplet impingement is not only related to the fluid dynamics, but also to the respective interfacial properties of solid and liquid. For most applications, maximum spreading diameter of the splat is considered to be an important factor for droplet impingement on solid surfaces. In the present study, we have developed a model for droplet impingement based on energy conservation principle to predict the maximum spreading radius and the radius as a function of time. Further, we have used the radius as a function of time in the heat transfer equations and to study the evolution of splat-temperature and predict the spreading factor and the spreading time and mathematically correlate them to the spraying parameters and material properties.