Advanced Robot Programming and Coupled Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer for Thermal Spraying

The trajectory of the guided torch, the spray angle and the relative speed between torch and component are crucial factors affecting the residual stress distribution and coating properties. Thus the requirement of high performance thermally sprayed coatings on complex geometries leads to advances in the field of robot assisted handling, and software tools for efficient robot programming are demanded. A new approach for computer aided generation of optimized trajectories in thermal spraying is presented. By the interconnection with CFD (Computer Fluid Dynamics) and FEM (Finite Element Method), the influence of the torch trajectory and speed profile on the heat transfer during the deposition process can be analyzed. Coating experiments with WC/Co as spray material were performed on real components for validation of the developed programming and simulation tools.