Modelling impingement of hollow metal droplets onto a flat surface

Despite many theoretical and experimental works dealing with the impact of dense melt droplets on the substrate during the process of thermal spray coating, the dynamics of the impingement of hollow melt droplet and the subsequent splat formation are not well addressed. In this paper a model study for the dynamic impingement of hollow droplet is presented. The hollow droplet is modelled such that it consists of a liquid shell enclosing a gas cavity. The impingement model considers the transient flow dynamics during impact, spreading and solidification of the droplet using the volume of fluid surface tracking method (VOF) coupled with a solidification model within a one-domain continuum formulation. The results for spreading, solidification and formation of splats clearly show that the impingement process of hollow droplet is distinctly different from the dense droplet. Study with different droplet void fractions and void distribution indicates that void fraction and void distribution have a significant influence on the flow dynamics during impact and on the final splat shape. The results are likely to provide insights for the less-explored behaviour of hollow melt droplets in thermal spray coating processes.

► A VOF model is successfully developed for impingement of hollow droplets.
► Void fractions and distribution significantly influences the impact flow dynamics.
► The impingement of hollow droplet is distinctly different from the dense droplet.