Abstract
A numerical model of a supersonic compressible plasma flow has been developed with the aid of CFD software to describe the thermodynamic and transport properties of a plasma jet in order to investigate the PS-PVD process and how to optimize it for thermal barrier coatings and, in particular, the formation of columnar microstructures. The required properties of the plasma gas mixtures were obtained as a function of temperature and pressure from thermodynamic calculations in chemical equilibrium with the effect of ionization. Two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to provide insight on the evolution of columnar microstructure, accounting for self-shadowing and vapor incidence angle but ignoring the effect of diffusion. Simulated structures and predicted values are presented and compared with actual images and measurements.
