Investigation of Flow Parameters in Wire Arc Thermal Spraying using CFD Simulation

Comprehensive study of the wire arc thermal spray technology will allow for better design and optimization of guns. In wire arc spray, a feed of two electrically-charged wires are melted using an arc. This bath of molten metal goes through an atomization process with a high pressure air being blown upon it. Flow of air will then carry the generated molten drops and deposits them on the substrate. The focus of this study is on the numerical simulation of both atomization and deposition parts of wire arc sprays using ANSYS-Fluent software. A detailed study of effects of various parameters on resulted coated substrate is conducted, such as effect of applied gas pressure, heat generation rates at arc position, gas temperature distribution, geometry of nozzle, and flow circulations inside the gun. Simulation results are in good agreement with experimental works and help in better parameter selection for effective wire arc coating.