Abstract
The aim of this work is to better understand the build-up of thermal barrier coatings (TBC) on microtextured substrates, particularly the influence of geometry on the behavior of plasma jets in substrate boundary layers. Coatings produced by suspension plasma spraying served as an experimental reference for numerical analysis, which involved advanced turbulent flow and volumetric heat source modeling along with the use of commercial fluid flow software. Geometric and numerical models were used to simulate the generation of plasma inside the torch and the resulting plasma flow with its highly nonlinear thermophysical characteristics. This work opens the possibility of predicting feedstock particle movement and deposition, which is essential in understanding coating build-up mechanisms in general and the flow of fine particles on substrate surfaces in particular.
