Spyros Kamnis

Numerical Analysis of Multicomponent Suspension Droplets in High-Velocity Flame Spray Process

The liquid feedstock or suspension as a different mixture of liquid fuel ethanol and water is numerically studied in high-velocity suspension flame spray (HVSFS) process, and the results are compared for homogenous liquid feedstock of ethanol and water. The effects of mixture on droplet aerodynamic breakup, evaporation, combustion, and gas dynamics of HVSFS process are thoroughly investigated. The exact location where the particle heating is initiated (above the carrier liquid boiling point) can be controlled by increasing the water content in the mixture. In this way, the particle inflight time in the high-temperature gas regions can be adjusted avoiding adverse effects from surface chemical transformations. The mixture is modeled as a multicomponent droplet, and a convection/diffusion model, which takes into account the convective flow of evaporating material from droplet surface, is used to simulate the suspension evaporation. The model consists of several sub-models that include premixed combustion of propane-oxygen, non-premixed ethanol-oxygen combustion, modeling of multicomponent droplet breakup and evaporation, as well as heat and mass transfer between liquid droplets and gas phase.

Prediction of Coating Properties of Thermally Sprayed WC–Co on Complex Geometries

This work outlines the development of an analytical software tool that enables the prediction of various coating properties on any given sprayable geometry. The prediction is achieved by analyzing the input computer-aided design geometry and by correlating the resulting kinematic conditions with experimental measurements. The results of the developed tool have been validated experimentally using HVOF-sprayed WC-17Co coatings. Specifically, coating thickness, microhardness, WC vol.% and specific sliding wear rate are examined and their values are predicted for the case of the external spray of a rotor-like model.

FIB-SEM Sectioning Study of Decarburization Products in the Microstructure of HVOF-Sprayed WC-Co Coatings

The thermal dissolution and decarburization of WC-based powders that occur in various spray processes are a widely studied phenomenon, and mechanisms that describe its development have been proposed. However, the exact formation mechanism of decarburization products such as metallic W is not yet established. A WC-17Co coating is sprayed intentionally at an exceedingly long spray distance to exaggerate the decarburization effects. Progressive xenon plasma ion milling of the examined surface has revealed microstructural features that would have been smeared away by conventional polishing. Serial sectioning provided insights on the three-dimensional structure of the decarburization products. Metallic W has been found to form a shell around small splats that did not deform significantly upon impact, suggesting that its crystallization occurs during the in-flight stage of the particles. W2C crystals are more prominent on WC faces that are in close proximity with splat boundaries indicating an accelerated decarburization in such sites. Porosity can be clearly categorized in imperfect intersplat contact and oxidation-generated gases via its shape.