Welcome to SimuSpray

Thermal spraying is a versatile technology which enables high-performance coating materials deposited on substrates to provide cost effective solutions for high corrosion- temperature- and abrasion-resistant requirements. The market for thermal spraying has grown steadily and covers the whole range of manufacturing industry including aerospace, nuclear, paper, steel, textile, electronic, chemical, mechanical, oil and gas, electronics and pharmacy. Among thermal spray methods available today, HVOF (high velocity oxygen fuel) and Plasma spraying have been used mostly for the high-end coating products. HVOF spraying has the advantage to accelerate powders to very high speed without overheating and produce less porous and oxidized, more uniform coating. Plasma spraying gives rise to a gas flow temperature of above 10,000 ْC which melts most materials including ceramics.
 

During thermal spraying, powders are heated by hot gas, accelerated and projected towards substrates. The thermophysical process involved in thermal spraying is complicated, the influence of many parameters on final coating makes it difficult to produce coating at constant high quality. When quantitative data cannot be obtained by experimental approaches, the control of thermal spraying is largely dependent on experience and trial-and-error approach, which leaves large scopes of improvement in production efficiency. For instance, the deposition efficiency for HVOF spraying is normally below 60%, which means about half of sprayed powders has not been used. The recycling of powders is not straightforward as oxidation, deformation and agglomeration may occur to the powder and reduce the quality of coating, besides the consumption of non-recyclable gas and other consumables.

A possible solution is to use computer based simulation. The latest models based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods are able to reveal detailed thermophysical history of gas and powder flows, which allows good estimate of coating prior to operation. It is believed that the use of computational tools will stimulate cheaper and faster development of coating technology and strengthen the EU competitiveness in global market.