Flow and heat transfer characteristics of assisting gas impingining onto an alumina coated hole in relation to laser drilling

• Location of coating at the top surface enhances thermal erosion.
• The Nusselt number and skin friction increase along coating thickness.
• Coating contributes to a flow blockage effect at a hole inlet.

Flow and heat transfer characteristics of the assisting gas impinging onto the coated holes are investigated in relation to the laser drilling process. The alumina coating with thickness of 250 μm is considered at the surface of the carbon steel substrate. Three cases are considered by incorporating different locations of the coating on the carbon steel. These cases include coating at the top of the workpiece, coating at the bottom of the workpiece, and coating both at the top and at the bottom of the workpiece. A no-coating situation of the hole is also presented for the comparison reason. To resemble the laser drilling process, the wall temperature of the coating and the carbon steel substrate is kept at the melting temperatures during the simulations. A numerical scheme incorporating the control volume approach is introduced and the Reynolds stress turbulence model is used to account for the turbulence effect of the impinging assisting gas. An experiment is carried out in line with the simulation conditions to examine the morphological changes at the coating-carbon steel interface. It is found that the assisting gas temperature exceeds the melting temperature of the steel substrate along the coating thickness and as the assisting gas progresses further into the hole, heat transfer from the assisting gas to the hole wall takes place. This, in turn, increases thermal erosion at the hole wall in the vicinity of the coating-steel substrate interface. The Nusselt number and the skin friction attain large values along the coating thickness in the hole.