Study of In-Flight and Impact Dynamics of Nonspherical Particles from HVOF Guns

High velocity oxygen fuel thermal spray has been widely used to deposit hard composite materials such as WC-Co powders for wear-resistant applications. Unlike gas atomized spherical powders, WC-CO powders form a more complex geometry. The knowledge gained from the existing spherical powders on process control and optimization may not be directly applicable to WC-Co coatings. This paper is the first to directly examine nonspherical particle in-flight dynamics and the impingement process on substrate using computational methods. Two sets of computational models are developed. First, the in-flight particles are simulated in the CFD-based combusting gas flow. The particle information prior to impact is extracted from the CFD results and implemented in a FEA model to dynamically track the impingement of particles on substrate. The morphology of particles is examined extensively including both spherical and nonspherical powders to establish the critical particle impact parameters needed for adequate bonding.