Effects of Atomization Injection on Nanoparticle Processing in Suspension Plasma Spray

Liquid atomization is applied in nanostructure dense coating technology to inject suspended nano-size powder materials into a suspension plasma spray (SPS) torch. This paper presents the effects of the atomization parameters on the nanoparticle processing. A numerical model was developed to simulate the dynamic behaviors of the suspension droplets, the solid nanoparticles or agglomerates, as well as the interactions between them and the plasma gas. The plasma gas was calculated as compressible, multi-component, turbulent jet flow in Eulerian scheme. The droplets and the solid particles were calculated as discrete Lagrangian entities, being tracked through the spray process. The motion and thermal histories of the particles were given in this paper and their release and melting status were observed. The key parameters of atomization, including droplet size, injection angle and velocity were also analyzed. The study revealed that the nanoparticle processing in SPS preferred small droplets with better atomization and less aggregation from suspension preparation. The injection angle and velocity influenced the nanoparticle release percentage. Small angle and low initial velocity might have more nanoparticles released. Besides, the melting percentage of nanoparticles and agglomerates were studied, and the critical droplet diameter to ensure solid melting was drawn. Results showed that most released nanoparticles were well melted, but the agglomerates might be totally melted, partially melted, or even not melted at all, mainly depending on the agglomerate size. For better coating quality, the suspension droplet size should be limited to a critical droplet diameter, which was inversely proportional to the cubic root of weight content, for given critical agglomerate diameter of being totally melted.