NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF PLASMA HEATING OF A COMPOSITE POWDER PARTICLE

摘要

The use of fine composite powder particles (composed of a ceramic core and a metallic coating) in plasma spraying processes is desirable in developing thin film coatings that possess high abrasion as well as high fracture resistance. Quantitative knowledge of the thermal behavior of a composite particle in a plasma beam is essential in optimizing the process variables to achieve uniform melting of the coating material. In this work, a numerical model is developed to analyze the in-flight thermal behavior of a spherically symmetric WC-Co composite particle travelling in an argon arc-jet DC plasma under strongly unsteady plasma conditions. The model gives quantitative as well as qualitative information about the thermal response of the heated particle. The important features that are addressed are the temperature response of the particle; the history of the location of the melting and vaporization fronts; and the physical state of the particle at the end of its flight. For the conditions investigated, it was determined that the internal conduction resistance is negligible as compared to the net external resistance. However, the presence of the ceramic base was found to affect the transient heating process since its content in the particle composition determines the time constant of the process. Another interesting observation is that proper selection of the particle injection speed and injection location can be effective means for optimizing the heating process and achieving uniform melting of the coating material.