Finite Element Analysis of Thermal Sprayed Stellite-6 Coatings on Steel Substrate

In this study, finite element method is applied to simulate thermal spraying of Stellite-6 microparticles on steel substrate. The effects of particle size, substrate pre-heating temperature and spraying angle are investigated on the process output parameters including stress, equivalent plastic strain, penetration depth, and temperature distribution. The simulations are designed and performed based on the Design of Experiments (DOE). Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to explore the relationships between the input factors and responses. The simulation results revealed that penetration depth as the main factor, affecting the bonding strength of coating, is highly dependent on the particle size. Spraying angle is also found to be a significant and effective parameter on the penetration depth. On the other hand, the pre-heating temperature of the substrate is observed to have no substantial effect on the penetration depth.The depth of penetration increases with increasing the particle size and spraying angle, and reaches its maximum value in spraying angle of 90˚.