Rebounding dynamics of ceramic drops on hydrophobic substrates.

In thermal spraying, molten YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia) drop impact is crucial to the understanding of formation of splats and hence coatings. However, existing studies hardly cast attention to the possible rebounding dynamics when successive molten YSZ drops impinge onto newly solidified splats whose temperature is still high so that freezing may be delayed. This work uses a newly developed numerical model based on the conservative level set method to probe into the rebounding dynamics of YSZ drops in practical thermal spraying conditions. The free-energy-based surface tension model in the phase field method was introduced to avoid the computing of curvature, which is however necessary in the continuum surface tension model. The projection method was invoked to solve the Navier–Stokes equations. The model was validated against an experiment of drop impact with rebounding, showing reasonable agreement. Moreover, the model was applied to both dense and hollow YSZ drop impact, with the details of fluid flow being analyzed. The maximum spread factor was found in agreement with existing scaling laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]