Analysis of semi-molten hollow particle spreading and deformation in plasma spraying

Abstract Hollow Yttrium-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) particles, which are often used to prepare high porosity coatings in industry, hit substrate at a fully molten state or semi-molten state due to the high temperature gradient of particles caused by the low thermal conductivity. Considering the hollow solid core large deformation and liquid solidification during the deposition of semi-molten hollow particles (SMHPs), a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model described by the Coupled Eulerian and Lagrangian (CEL) method, is developed and validatedto investigate the spreading results in thermal spraying. The empirical formula of dynamic viscosity based on the ABAQUS CEL method is proposed and verified for simulation of the liquid YSZ spreading and solidification. The compression ratio and plastic dissipation are calculated to reveal flattening and buckling phenomena of hollow solid core with different initial velocities and hollow radius. Moreover, a double-SMHP impact model is established to simulate the interaction of particle particle-substrate, and the effect of flattening, buckling- and structural self-contact on porosity is analyzed. Numerical simulation results show that hollow solid core large deformation induces instability accompanied by flattening, buckling or structural self-contact, which results in the reduction of layer porosity.