Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8

Heat transfer during the formation of an HVOF sprayed

WC±Co coating on a copper substrate
V.V. Sobolev*, J.M. Guilemany, J.A. Calero
Metalurgia FõÂsica-Ciencia de Materiales, Centro de ProyeccioÂn TeÂrmica (CPT), Departamento de IngenierõÂa QuõÂmica y Metalurgia,
Universidad de Barcelona, MartõÂ i FraqueÁs I, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Received 30 December 1997; received in revised form 17 September 1998

Abstract

Mathematical modelling of the heat transfer between a WC±Co coating and a copper substrate during HVOF spraying is undertaken. This
modelling includes the investigation of temperature variation, coating solidi®cation, melting and solidi®cation in the substrate interfacial
region, and speci®c features of the substrate±coating thermal interaction. The results obtained agree well with experimental data. # 1999
Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Keywords: WC±Co coating; Copper substrate; HVOF spraying; Heat transfer; Modelling

1. Introduction on droplet ¯attening during thermal spraying [2±4,14,15].

Development of the coating structure and properties
depends essentially on the substrate±coating heat transfer
during coating deposition and solidi®cation [1±6]. Particu-
larly, it refers to the heat transfer in the substrate±coating
interfacial region, which includes the ®rst coating layer and
the substrate interfacial zone, because in this region adhesive
bonds between the coating and the substrate are developed
[7±11].
With a given coating the dynamics of the heat transfer
depend signi®cantly on the substrate material and the mor-
phology of the substrate surface. Heat transfer between a
WC±Co coating and a smooth steel substrate and between
this coating and a smooth aluminium alloy substrate has
been investigated in [5,6,12,13]. Marked differences have
been established between the kinetics of coating solidi®ca-
tion and melting and solidi®cation of the substrate interfacial
region because of the different thermophysical properties of
the substrate materials.
The morphology of the substrate surface also plays an
important role in the substrate±coating thermal interaction.
This is mainly due to the in¯uence of the surface roughness
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-3-4021297; fax: +34-3-4021638
E-mail address: sobolev@material.qui.ub.es (V.V. Sobolev)
With a rough substrate surface, the splat thickness increases
and the splat radius decreases in comparison with a smooth
surface [14,15]. Droplet solidi®cation also in¯uences the
¯attening process [15,16].
Heat ¯ow from the relatively thin splat formed on the
smooth surface will be dispersed rapidly into the substrate,
hence the thickness of the melted layer in the substrate
interfacial region will be low. With a thicker splat developed
on a rough surface, the temperature increase at the substrate
will be greater than with a thinner splat. Thus the depth of
the melted layer will be greater.
The roughness of the substrate surface also contributes to
an increase in the contact thermal resistance at the substrate±
coating interface [2±4]. This leads to a slowing down of the
heat transfer between the coating and the substrate and
hence to the temperature rise at the substrate and an increase
in the depth of the melted layer in the substrate interfacial
region.
This paper is devoted to analysis of the heat transfer
processes during the formation of HVOF sprayed WC±Co
coatings on smooth and rough (grit-blasted) copper sub-
strates by means of the modelling of these processes. The
results obtained are shown to be consistent with experi-
mental data. The results obtained can be used also for
prediction of the coating porosity and chemical inhomo-
geneity [18±23].

0924-0136/99/$ ± see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 2 5 5 - 1
2 V.V. Sobolev et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8
2. Description of modelling
During plasma spraying, where relatively low particle
velocities are found, the coating may be considered to have
been formed by the progressive build up of individual
powder particles, which have been partially or totally
melted, impinging on the substrate surface [2±4,24,25].
During HVOF spraying the particle velocities are much
greater than with plasma spraying, thus the individual
particles can agglomerate to produce the layers of the
coating. Therefore, collective movement of the particles
and their subsequent impingement are important in asses-
sing how the sprayed coating builds up. It would appear that
the layer formation in HVOF spraying is somewhat different
from that found with plasma spraying: during one pass of the
spray gun, a coating layer with a thickness of 10±15 mm
could be obtained [6,10,13]. The modelling results obtained
under this assumption are shown to agree well with experi-
mental data [5,6,9,10,12,13].
The model developed involves numerical calculation of
the temperature distributions in the substrate T1 and the
coating T2, which may be considered as functions of only a
transverse coordinate r and a time t. Whilst end effects could
in¯uence the periphery of the coating, the above statement is
correct for the central region of the sprayed specimen. Thus
the calculations ignore end effects and relate to the central
part of the coating.
At the upper surface of the coating layer a boundary
condition is applied involving gas±splat heat exchange with
a heat-transfer coef®cient . At the substrate±coating inter-
face the contact thermal resistance RC is accounted for by a
contact heat-transfer coef®cient C, which is inversely
proportional to the contact thermal resistance RC and
increases with an increase in a substrate surface roughness.
Solidi®cation of the coating layer as well as fusion and
subsequent solidi®cation of the substrate in the substrate±
coating interfacial region are taken into account by means of
the Stefan problem formulation for the pure metal, and by
the introduction of the effective speci®c heat according to
[5] when considering the phase change in the alloy.
The heat-transfer problem involves the non-linear heat
conductivity equations for T1 and T2 and the corresponding
boundary and initial conditions. A detailed description of the
model is given in [5,14,15].
The thermal problem was solved numerically by the
method of ®nite differences in the implicit form with
absolute stability. The numerical results obtained and the
parameters of the coating structure calculated on their basis
were shown to agree well with the experimental data con-
cerning the formation of the coating crystalline and amor-
phous structure, the crystalline structure in the substrate
interfacial region, the depths of the substrate melting there,
the heat-affected zones of the substrate, etc., for HVOF
sprayed coatings of WC±Co on steel and aluminium alloy
substrates and coatings of WC±Ni on a steel substrate
[6,10,13]. The same model was used in this paper to study
the heat transfer during the formation of the WC±Co coating
on a copper substrate during HVOF spraying.
The main focus of the analysis was directed at the thermal
interaction between the ®rst layer of the coating and the
substrate, but the in¯uence of the subsequent layers of the
coating on the heat transfer was studied also.
In the basic version of the calculations the following
parameters were introduced: the substrate thickness
involved in the calculations was 3 mm; the coating layer
thickness was ˆ15 mm; the initial temperature of the
substrate was T10ˆ208C; the heat-transfer coef®cient at
the upper surface of the coating layer was ˆ1000 Wmÿ2
Kÿ1; the contact heat-transfer coef®cient at the substrate±
coating interface for a smooth substrate surface was
6 ÿ2 ÿ1
Cˆ6.6710 Wm K ; the same coef®cient for a rough
(grit-blasted) surface of the substrate was Cˆ3.33
106 Wmÿ2 Kÿ1, and the gas temperature at the upper surface
of the coating layer was 5008C.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. First layer of the coating
The ®rst layer of the coating is formed by ¯attened
droplets impinging on the substrate surface. Droplet-coating
impact interaction and development of splats are described
in detail in [11,14,15]. For the purposes of the present
analysis the difference in the substrate surface morphology
is taken into account by the different coef®cients of the
contact heat transfer.
The liquid phase in the coating layer solidi®es as heat is
transferred to the relatively massive heat sink of the sub-
strate. Additional cooling of the coating layer occurs as a
result of heat loss from its upper surface to the surrounding
gas medium, but this cooling is essentially smaller than that
due to the substrate. Because of the competition between
these two types of cooling, the temperature pro®le through
the layer will have a maximum value at a location that is
close to the upper free surface.
Modelling of solidi®cation in the ®rst layer of the coating
indicates that for the grit-blasted surface the solidi®cation
time tS2 varies non-uniformly as the initial temperatures of
the substrate T10 and the layer T20 increase (Fig. 1). This
behaviour can be explained as follows. The heat ¯ux q
removed from the coating layer at the substrate±coating
interface is determined by the equation: qˆ C
T,

ˆT1iÿT2i, where T1i and T2i are the substrate and layer
temperatures at the interface. Thus an increase in T10 and T20
leads to a decrease in
T and in q and this contributes to an
increase in the duration of solidi®cation of the ®rst layer of
the coating. On the other hand, an increase in T10 and T20
may cause an increase in
T and q and, therefore, an
acceleration of the solidi®cation of the ®rst layer. Competi-
tion between these two tendencies leads to the non-uniform
behaviour of tS2 with respect to T10 and T20. A decrease in
 V.V. Sobolev et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8 3

Fig. 3. Variation of the solidification times of the layer and the substrate
with respect to the layer thickness for a rough surface.

Fig. 1. Variation of the layer solidification time with respect to the initial
temperatures of the substrate and the layer for a rough surface.
Fig. 2. Variation of the layer solidification time with respect to the initial
temperatures of the substrate and the layer for a smooth surface.
the contact thermal resistance in the case of a smooth surface
makes the behaviour of tS2 with respect to the initial
temperature of the substrate more uniform (Fig. 2). Fig. 3
shows that the solidi®cation time tS2 increases with an
increase in the layer thickness.
The kinetics of the solidi®cation process for the ®rst layer
are given in Table 1. The time interval from the impinge-
ment of the droplets and development of the layer to the
initial formation of solid at the substrate±coating interface is
given by tL1. The isotherm of the liquidus then moves
towards the upper surface of the layer, which it reaches
after the time interval tL2. Full solidi®cation at the layer±
substrate interface occurs after the time interval tS1 and the
®rst layer becomes fully solid after the time interval tS2.
The values of tL1 and tS1 are equal and are both equal to
0.019 ms for the smooth surface and to 0.191 ms for the grit-
blasted surface of the substrate. This increase in tL1 and tS2 is
caused by the slowing down of the heat transfer from the
layer to the substrate when the contact thermal resistance
increases.
As can be seen from the results given in Table 1, as T10 is
increased from 208C to 1258C there is a corresponding
increase in tL2 and tS2 for the smooth substrate surface
and a decrease in tL2 and tS2 for the grit-blasted surface.
Similarly, an increase in T20 from 14828C to 15008C but
keeping T10 constant at 208C gives a decrease in tL2 and tS2.
The value of tL2 for the grit-blasted surface remains constant
under such variation of T20. An increase in  gives an
increase in tL2 and tS2.
ÿ1
The parameter  1 de®ned as tL2 ÿ tL1 †tS2 is always
ÿ1
smaller than  2 de®ned as tS2 ÿ tS1 †tS2 . This implies that
the liquidus isotherm moves faster than that of the solidus.
The difference between  1 and  2 decreases with a decrease
in the contact thermal resistance. As a result, liquid is
present in the solidifying layer for 10±80% of the time
taken for full solidi®cation tS2 for the smooth surface, and
for 40±70% of tS2 for the grit-blasted surface of the sub-
strate. The solidifying layer remains in a solid±liquid
(mushy) state near to the upper boundary for 85±97% of
its full solidi®cation time in the case of the grit-blasted
surface and almost up to the end of solidi®cation for the
smooth surface.
These results differ from those when a WC±Co coating is
formed on a steel and an aluminium alloy substrate due to

Table 1
Variation of the characteristic times of solidification in the coating first layer with respect to the spraying parameters and substrate surface morphology

T10 (8C) T20 (8C)  (mm) Smooth surface Grit-blasted surface

tL2 (ms) tS2 (ms) 1 2 tL2 (ms) tS2 (ms) 1 2

20 1482 15 1.22 1.57 0.77 0.988 1.15 2.11 0.46 0.91

125 1482 15 1.30 1.68 0.76 0.989 0.96 1.91 0.40 0.90
20 1500 15 1.19 1.44 0.81 0.997 1.15 1.34 0.72 0.86
20 1482 25 3.43 4.31 0.79 0.996 4.03 5.93 0.65 0.97
4 V.V. Sobolev et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8
the difference in the thermophysical properties of the substrate
materials. In the case of the steel substrate the ®rst coating layer
during solidi®cation has a liquid phase during 20±30% of its
full solidi®cation time and the mushy state to near the upper
edge of the ®rst layer remains during 60±80% of tS2 [5]. For the
aluminium alloysubstratealiquidphasestillremainsinthe®rst
coating layer during 60±80% of tS2, whilst the mushy state
exists during 20±40% of its full solidi®cation time [12].
The value of  1 for the smooth surface increases as T20 and
 increase but  1 decreases as T10 increases. The value of  2
in this case is enhanced with an increase in T10, T20 and .
For the grit-blasted surface the behaviour of  1 with respect
to T10, T20 and  is the same as in the case of the smooth
surface of the substrate, but the value of  2 decreases as T10
and T20 increase and  2 increases with an increase in .
From the value of  2 it can be deduced that during the
signi®cant period of the cooling process of the ®rst layer
both liquid and solid phases are present. This is especially
true in the vicinity of the upper surface of the layer before
solidi®cation is complete. This gives rise to favourable
conditions for the development of porosity in the coating
[11,18±20]. The results show that the value of  2 increases as
T10, T20 and  increase for the smooth surface but  2
decreases as T10 and T20 increase for the grit-blasted surface.
3.2. Substrate interfacial region
The thermal history of the substrate involves the follow-
ing stages: (i) heating as a result of heat transfer from the ®rst
layer of the coating; (ii) melting of the substrate interfacial
region if the temperature attained is high enough; (iii)
subsequent solidi®cation and cooling of the solid state in
the substrate; (iv) reheating and cooling of the substrate from
the second and subsequent layers of the coating.
In the present case copper was used as the substrate and a
clear melt condition is believed to occur at a temperature of
10838C. Melting takes place when the solidus temperature
TS1 is exceeded at the time tS1. The isotherm for the solidus
then moves away from the substrate±coating interface into
the substrate for a distance hS as heating continues, where it
reaches a maximum value hSm when the temperature in the
substrate is insuf®cient to exceed TS1 and at the time tS3.
The liquidus temperature is reached at the interface on
heating at the time tL1 and full liquation for a distance hL is
achieved until a maximum value hLm is reached at time tL3.
The calculations show that tL1ˆtS1ˆ0.0383 ms for the
smooth surface of the substrate and tL1ˆtS1ˆ0.191 ms for
the grit-blasted surface. During HVOF spraying the tem-
perature may not be great enough for full liquation to occur
and the substrate interfacial region is retained in the solid±
liquid (mushy) state [5,6]. In the present case this situation
exists and the value of hSm found for the basic version of the
calculations was about 0.1 mm in the case of the smooth
surface and about 0.5 mm for the grit-blasted surface. This
can be explained as follows: with the same heat energy of the
coating layer the higher contact thermal resistance C slows
down the heat transfer at the substrate±coating interface and
increases the time interval when the heat ¯ux passes the
substrate interfacial region. This increases the time of
duration of this region under relatively higher temperatures
and, therefore, leads to an increase in hSm.
As heat is lost, solidi®cation in the substrate interfacial
region starts and the liquidus isotherm moves back towards
the substrate±coating interface. It reaches the interface at
time tL4 and at time tS4 the solidus isotherm reaches the
interface when the solidi®cation is complete. Hence tS4 is
the full solidi®cation time of the substrate interfacial region,
the value which is chie¯y the time of the solidi®cation
ÿ1
isotherm movement. The parameters 3 ˆ tL4 ÿ tL3 †tS4
ÿ1
and 4 ˆ tS4 ÿ tS3 †tS4 are the relative times of movement
of the liquidus and solidus isotherms, respectively.
For the smooth surface the values of tL3 and tS3 vary
between 0.1 and 0.2 ms when the layer initial temperature
changes from 208C to 1258C, the substrate initial tempera-
ture is between 14828C and 15008C and the variation of the
layer thickness is from 15 to 25 mm. In the case of the grit-
blasted surface under these variations of T10, T20 and , the
values of tL3 and tS3 are the same and tL3ˆtS3ˆ0.765 ms.
The most representative are the variations of tS4 and  4,
shown in Table 2. For the smooth surface of the substrate the
values of tS4 and  4 increase with an increase in T10 and T20
and practically do not vary as  increases. In the case of the
grit-blasted surface the parameters tS4 and  4 also increase
with an increase in T10 and T20 but decrease as  increases.
The substrate interfacial region remains in the mushy state
during a signi®cant portion of its solidi®cation time, this
portion for the grit-blasted surface being greater than that for
the smooth surface.
The values of hS increase with time, reaching a maximum
value hSm and then decreasing. Figs. 4 and 5 show that the
values of hSm increase as T10 and T20 are increased. The
variations of hSm in relation to T10 are sharper than in
relation to T20 because the initial temperature of the sub-
strate has more in¯uence on the heat transfer in the substrate
interfacial region than the initial temperature of the layer.
The values of hSm for the grit-blasted surface are greater than
those for the smooth surface because of the intensive
accumulation of heat in the former case.
Due to absorption of the latent heat in the mushy zone
during melting, the value of hLm practically does not depend
Table 2
Variation of the characteristic times of solidification of the substrate
interfacial region with respect to the spraying parameters and substrate
surface morphology
T10 (8C) T20 (8C)  (mm) Smooth surface Grit-blasted surface
tS4 (ms) 4 tS4 (ms) 4
20 1482 15 0.23 0.500 2.68 0.714
125 1482 15 1.76 0.881 4.11 0.814
20 1500 15 0.40 0.667 2.87 0.733
20 1482 25 0.23 0.500 2.49 0.692
 V.V. Sobolev et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8
Fig. 4. Variation of the substrate melting depth with respect to the initial
temperatures of the substrate and the layer for a rough surface.
Fig. 5. Variation of the substrate melting depth with respect to the initial
temperatures of the substrate and the layer for a smooth surface.
Fig. 6. Variation of the substrate melting depth and the substrate liquidus
position with respect to the layer thickness for a smooth surface.
on the layer thickness  for the smooth surface (Fig. 6). As
the contact thermal resistance at the substrate±coating inter-
face increases the value of hSm starts to increase with an
increase in  because the heat ¯ux in the substrate interfacial
region enhances due to an increase in the energy content of
the coating layer. The further increase in  leads to the
establishing of a balance between heat coming to the sub-
strate interfacial region from the layer and heat removed
from this region by heat transfer to the massive heat sink of
the substrate. That is why the further increase in  causes the
``saturation'' of the value of hSm.
5
Fig. 7. Variation of the substrate solidification time with respect to the
initial temperatures of the substrate and the layer for a rough surface.
The solidi®cation time tS4 of the substrate interfacial
region for the grit-blasted surface is about two times greater
than that of the ®rst layer of the coating (Figs. 1 and 7). In
the case of the smooth surface the solidi®cation time of the
substrate interfacial region is about one order of magnitude
greater than that of the ®rst layer (Figs. 2 and 8). This differs
substantially from the situation when a WC±Co coating is
sprayed onto a steel substrate. In this case the value of tS4 is
about two orders of magnitude greater than tS2 because of
the difference in the thermophysical properties of copper
and steel.
From the Figs. 7 and 8 it can be seen that the value of tS4
increases with an increase in T10 and T20 and that this
increase in relation to T10 depends on the substrate surface
morphology. In the case of the smooth surface a uniform
increase of tS4 is observed when T10 increases (Fig. 8). For
the grit-blasted surface with an increase in the substrate
initial temperature a balance between heat coming to and
removed from the substrate interfacial region occurs and
``saturation'' of tS4 takes place (Fig. 7). As can be seen from
Fig. 3 for the smooth surface the value of tS4 varies non-
uniformly with respect to the ®rst layer thickness and attains
the maximum value at 22 mm.
Fig. 8. Variation of the substrate solidification time with respect to the
initial temperatures of the substrate and the layer for a smooth surface.
6 V.V. Sobolev et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8

This behaviour of tS4 is associated strongly with that of

hSm, which in the case of the rough surface is similar to the
situation shown in Fig. 3. An increase in  causes an increase
in hSm and, therefore, in  S4. Further increase in  increases
the thermal energy transferred to the substrate interfacial
region that is added to the latent heat extracted during
solidi®cation. This enhances the temperature difference
between the substrate interfacial region and the rest of
the substrate and, therefore, slightly increases the heat
removal from this region. This is the reason for a decrease
in the time  S4 of solidi®cation of the substrate interfacial
region with further increase in .

3.3. Subsequent layers of the coating

Fig. 9. Variation of the maximum interface temperature with respect to the
layer number.
With a rotating system for the specimen used during
HVOF spraying with a CDS gun (PT100) in the Centre
of Thermal Spraying of the University of Barcelona, the
second and subsequent layers of the coating are deposited
with a 1.32 s time interval.
The in¯uence of the subsequent coating layers on heat
transfer depends signi®cantly on the thermophysical proper-
ties of the substrate and coating materials. Both modelling
results and coating characterisation show that for the HVOF
sprayed WC±Co coating on a steel substrate, the in¯uence of
the second layer is very weak and that of subsequent layers
decreases, nearly vanishing with the fourth layer [5,6]. Thus,
in this case, the interfacial heat transfer is determined mostly
by the thermal interaction between the substrate and the ®rst
coating layer.
The situation is different when the WC±Co coating is Fig. 10. Variation of the maximum temperatures at the interfaces between
formed on an aluminium alloy (Al-4%Cu) substrate [12,13]. the different layers with respect to the layer number.
Due to the thermophysical properties of this alloy, the
subsequent coating layers markedly in¯uence the heat
transfer and the structure development. The heat trans- 4. Comparison with experimental data
fer from the second layer causes the remelting of the
substrate interfacial region and its subsequent repeated The results obtained were compared with experimental
solidi®cation. data concerning the substrate±coating thermal interaction.
The situation is also different when the WC±Co coating is HVOF sparying was provided with the Plasma Technik AG
formed on a copper substrate. Calculations show that during PT PT100 system. A commercial WC±Co powder was
the cooling of the second layer, the temperature at the sprayed on to a copper substrate.
substrate±coating interface increases up to about 4808C, The microstructure of the substrate interfacial region
which is obviously not enough for the remelting of the depends essentially on the morphology of the substrate
substrate interfacial region. The maximum temperature surface [17] and differs markedly from that with the same
Tm at the interface decreases with an increase in the layer coating on a steel and an aluminium alloy substrates [6,13].
number (Fig. 9). This temperature depends weakly on the
morphology of the substrate surface. In Fig. 9 the values of 4.1. Substrate±coating interfacial region without grit
Tm are given for the smooth substrate surface. blasting
The variation of the maximum temperature at the inter-
1;2†
faces between the ®rst and the second layers (Tm ), second In the substrate interfacial region ®ne crystals were found
2;3† 3;4†
and third layers (Tm ), third and fourth layers (Tm ) and in the copper extending for a depth of about 0.1 mm, but in
4;5†
fourth and ®fth layers (Tm ) in relation to the layer number some regions these crystals were absent. The grain size of
is shown in Fig. 10. These temperatures decrease with the ®ne copper crystals was 5±20 nm and there was observed
increasing layer number and practically does not depend a sharp boundary between the ®ne crystalline structure and
on the morphology of the substrate surface. the original coarse-grained structure of the substrate.
 V.V. Sobolev et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8
The ®ne crystalline structure develops because of melting
of the copper by the heat ¯ux from the coating ®rst layer and
its further solidi®cation under very high cooling velocities.
Below the ®ne crystal zone there were not detected any
structural changes that could be associated with a heat-
affected zone.
The experimental data are consistent with the modelling
results, which indicate that the depth of partial melting in the
substrate interfacial region is about 0.1 mm. The crystal size
 calculated using the thermal gradients G and solidi®cation
velocities Vs found on the base of the results obtained
 ˆ 10ÿ4 Vsÿ0:25 Gÿ0:5 † is shown to be within the experi-
mentally observed range [17].
4.2. Substrate±coating interfacial region with grit
blasting
In the case of the grit-blasted substrate surface four zones
were identi®ed in the substrate interfacial region. Zone one
was in the substrate immediately adjacent to the interface
and consisted of ®ne crystals with a size of about 50 nm,
which is somewhat larger than that of the polished substrate.
The depth of this zone was about 0.5 mm. Zone one is the
region where the copper has been in the molten state. This is
consistent with the modelling results, which show that the
depth of this zone is about 0.5 mm and that the crystal size is
about 40±60 nm. With the grid-blasted surface the crystal
size is larger than that in the case of the smooth substrate
surface.
Immediately below zone one is a sharp boundary to give
zone two, consisting of a recrystallized copper region and a
®ne crystalline region. The former region has the grain size
over a wide range of from 0.7 to 4.5 mm and extends for a
depth of 1±5 mm, but the usual width is about 1.5±2 mm. The
®nal crystalline region has a width of about 0.5 mm and the
crystal size is 50±100 nm. The structural sequence recrys-
tallized grains±®ne grains is repeated 3±4 times to give a
total depth below the interace of 5±8 mm. The structure of
zone two in consistent with the results of calculations. They
indicate that at a depth of 5±10 mm below the interface
between the coating and the grit-blasted substrate, tempera-
tures within the range of 925±7008C are maintained for
about 40 ms, which would seem to be suf®cient to give the
partial recrystallization observed in the heavily cold-worked
region.
Zone three is below zone two and consists of the recrys-
tallised copper and extends to a depth of 30±40 mm below
the interface. The modelling studies show that at this depth
from the interface the maximum temperatures attained are
about 550±6008C, which is suf®cient to produce the
observed effects.
Zone four of the microstructure is identical to the original
substrate structure, as con®rmed by the results of the mod-
elling of the substrate thermal history. Thus, the theoretical
results agree well with the experimental data.
7
5. Conclusions
1. The full solidi®cation time of the ®rst coating layer for
the grit-blasted surface of the substrate varies non-
uniformly with respect to the initial temperatures of the
substrate and the layer. In the case of the smooth surface
the behaviour of this solidi®cation time with respect to
the initial substrate temperature becomes more uniform.
The layer solidi®cation time increases with an increase
in the layer thickness.
2. The relative time of the liquidus isotherm movement
during the solidification of the first coating layer for the
smooth surface of the substrate increases as the initial
substrate temperature and the layer thickness increase,
but this relative time decreases as the initial layer tem-
perature increases. The relative time of the solidus iso-
therm movement for the smooth surface increases with an
increase in the layer thickness and initial temperatures of
the layer and the substrate.
3. For the grit-blasted surface of the substrate, the behaviour
of the relative time of the solidus isotherm movement
during solidification of the first coating layer with respect
to the layer thickness and the initial temperatures of the
layer and the substrate is the same as in the case of the
smooth surface, but the value of the relative time of the
solidus isotherm movement decreases as the initial tem-
peratures of the layer and the substrate increase and
increases with an increase in the layer thickness.
4. During solidification of the first coating layer the liquidus
isotherm moves faster than that of the solidus. The
difference between the relative times of movement of
the isotherms of the liquidus and the solidus decreases
with a decrease in the contact thermal resistance between
the coating and the substrate, i.e. with a decrease in the
roughness of the substrate surface.
5. Liquid is present in the solidifying first layer for 70±80%
of its full solidification time for the smooth surface of
the substrate and for 40±70% of the full solidification
time for the grit-blasted surface of the substrate. The
mushy state remains near to the upper boundary of the
layer during 85±97% of its full solidification time. This
differs markedly from the situation when a WC±Co
coating is developed on a steel and an aluminium alloy
substrates.
6. During heating from the coating layer the substrate
interfacial region melts partially and is retained in the
solid±liquid (mushy) state. For the smooth surface of the
substrate the depth of melting is about 0.1 mm and for the
grit-blasted surface this depth is about 0.5 mm.
7. For the smooth surface of the substrate the full solidifica-
tion time of the substrate interfacial region increases with
an increase in the initial temperatures of the substrate and
the layer and practically does not vary as the layer
thickness increases. In the case of the grit-blasted surface
the full solidification time of the substrate interfacial
region also increases with an increase in the initial
8 V.V. Sobolev et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 96 (1999) 1±8
temperatures of the substrate and the layer and varies
non-uniformly as the layer thickness increases.
8. The substrate interfacial region remains in the mushy
state during a significant portion of its solidification time,
this portion for the grit-blasted surface being greater than
that for the smooth surface of the substrate.
9. The full solidification time of the substrate interfacial
region for the grit-blasted surface of the substrate is about
twice as greater as that of the first layer of the coating.
This time in the case of the smooth substrate surface is
about one order of magnitude greater than that of the first
layer.
10. During cooling of the second layer of the coating, the
temperature at the substrate±coating interface increases,
but this increase is not enough for the remelting of the
substrate interfacial region. The maximum temperature
at the interface decreases with an increase in the layer
number. This temperature depends weakly on the mor-
phology of the substrate surface. The maximum tem-
peratures at the interfaces between different coating
layers decrease with increasing layer number and prac-
tically does not depend on the morphology of the
substrate surface.
11. The results obtained agree well with the experimental
data
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the Generalitat de
Catalunya (project GRQ93-1017) and CICYT (project
MAT94-0013) for ®nancial support.
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