CFD Study of Particle and Compressible Flow Interaction for a Twin Wire Arc Spraying System

Plasma spraying is used in various industries for additive manufacturing applications to apply materials onto a workpiece. Such applications could be for the purpose of repair, protection against corrosion, wear-resistance, or enhancing surface properties. One plasma spraying method is the twin wire arc spraying (TWAS) process that utilizes two electrically conductive wires, across which an electric arc is generated at their meeting point. The molten droplets that are created are propelled by an atomizing gas towards a substrate on which the coating is deposited. The TWAS process offers low workpiece heating and high deposition rates at a lower cost compared to other plasma spraying techniques. As the spray angle for this technique is relatively large (15 degree half angle), particles are lost in the process, lowering the yield of deposited material. The motivation of this project was to constrict the particle flow and reduce the loss of particles that are ejected by the spraying torch. Torch nozzles were designed to help the particle trajectory match the axial flow direction of the atomizing gas flow. Simulations using ANSYS FLUENT Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software was utilized to model both the atomizing gas flow and particle flow for a TWAS system. Various nozzle configurations with arc jet angles between 30–75 degrees showed only small effects on gas flow velocity and shape, with no significant variations in particle flow. These results indicate that nozzle configurations are only one factor in determining particle trajectory, and that phase changes and heat transfer need to be considered as well.