Numerical study of molten and semi-molten ceramic impingement by using coupled Eulerian and Lagrangian method

Large temperature gradients are present within ceramic powder particles during plasma spray deposition due to their low thermal conductivity. The particles often impinge at the substrate in a semi-molten form which in turn substantially affects the final characteristics of the coating being formed. This study is dedicated to a novel modeling approach of a coupled Eulerian and Lagrangian (CEL) method for both fully molten and semi-molten droplet impingement processes. The simulation provides an insight to the deformation mechanism of the solid core YSZ and illustrates the freezing-induced break-up and spreading at the splat periphery. A 30 μm fully molten YSZ particle and an 80 μm semi-molten YSZ particle with different core sizes and initial velocity ranging from 100 to 240 m/s were examined. The flattened degree for both cases were obtained and compared with experimental and analytical data.