Nanoparticles Modeling in Axially Injection Suspension Plasma Spray of Zirconia and Alumina Ceramics

Suspension plasma spray (SPS) is a thermal spray method in which nanoparticles are injected into the plasma jet with the help of suspension droplets to achieve thin and finely structured nanocoatings. The nanoparticles experience three in-flight stages: injection within the suspension droplets, discharge of the nanoparticle agglomerates after the evaporation of the suspension solvent, and tracking of the nanoparticle or agglomerates during the momentum and heat transfer with the plasma jet before coating. A numerical model is proposed in this paper for nanoparticle injection, discharge, acceleration, heating, melting, and evaporation. Initial values of suspension droplet size and agglomerate size are selected according to typical experimental data. Noncontinuum effects on particle acceleration and heating, known as Knudsen effects, are considered, as well as the influence of evaporation on the heat transfer. After a comparison with the experimental data, this nanoparticle model is applied for zirconia and alumina axially injected into the suspension plasma spray. Trajectory, velocity, and temperature of the in-flight nanoparticles are predicted for different initial sizes ranging from 30 nm to 1.5 μm; the distributions of the particle characteristics for multiple particles in the spray are also presented. The effects of powder size and material, power input, plasma gas flow rate, and standoff distance on the nanoparticle characteristics have been investigated and discussed.