MODELING OF DROPLET DYNAMIC AND THERMAL HISTORIES DURING SPRAY FORMING .2. EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS

A computer model has been developed to describe the in-flight dynamic and thermal histories of gas atomised droplets as a function of distance during spray forming. The model has been used to investigate the effects of the dynamic and thermal behaviour of individual gas atomised droplets and the cooling and solidification behaviour of the overall spray. The most influential parameters for a given alloy system, in order of importance, are: (i) droplet diameter and, therefore, the droplet size distribution within the spray; (ii) initial axial gas velocity at the point of atomisation and the subsequent gas velocity decay profile; (iii) melt mass flow rate; (iv) melt superheat at the point of atomisation; and (v) alloy composition. Experimental measurements of gas velocities and droplet size distributions during spray forming allow the spray solid fraction at deposition to be calculated and used in a subsequent computer model of billet heat flow to predict the billet top surface temperatures and solid fractions.