Multi-Scale Thermo-Mechanical Model Simulation of Residual Stress in Atmospheric Plasma Spray Process

This work presents a multi-scale one-way-coupled thermo-mechanical method to determine the residual stress in an Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS) process. The model uses three submodelling scale levels that range from the entire component (macroscopic) to a splat coating layer (microscopic) dimension. The three-level scale temperature and stress evolutions of an Al2O3 coating material on a flat aluminium substrate were analysed. The quenching stress for different substrate preheating temperatures up to 600 K at the end of the APS coating process was discussed and validated through an experimental in situ curvature method and Stoney’s quenching stress equation.