Modeling of the interface behavior in tape casting of functionally graded ceramics for magnetic refrigeration parts

•Fist paper in literature presenting numerical modeling of side-by-side tape casting.•Investigation of fluid property on the final parts.•Introducing the viscosity as a key parameter to control in process.•Explaining the key parameters to reach the optimized part with sharp interface.

The main goal of this work is to study the multiple material flows in side-by-side (SBS) tape casting and analyze the influence of the different material properties, i.e. the density and the viscosity, on the interface between the fluids, since this is highly important for the efficiency of a graded configuration of the magnetocaloric materials. The Newtonian flow behavior with relatively high viscosity is assumed for each fluid and used in the simulation with a commercial CFD code (ANSYS FLUENT). The results show that the density difference does not affect the interface between the adjacent fluids, whereas the viscosity of the fluids plays the most important role in the behavior of the interface. Moreover, increasing the viscosity difference of the adjacent fluids, Δμ, leads to increasing the diffusive region between them. However, this can be counteracted by decreasing the velocity by the substrate.

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