Analysis and prediction of liquid metal film thickness in centrifugal spray forming process

To study how the key parameters in the centrifugal spray forming process affect the thickness of a liquid film, a two-dimensional numerical model was constructed in Fluent to dynamically track the interface between the liquid film and air. The effects of forming process conditions and physical properties of molten metal materials on the thickness distribution of liquid film were studied. The thickness of the liquid film generally decreases with the increase of radial distance. However, when a hydraulic jump occurs, the thickness of the liquid film increases sharply. Under a given flow rate, whether a hydraulic jump occurs depends on the inlet diameter. The inlet diameter has a great influence on the liquid film thickness in the central area of the centrifugal disc but not in the edge area. The influences of the rotational speed and flow rate on the thickness of the liquid film are opposite. An increase in rotational speed leads to thinning of the liquid film at the edge, whereas an increase in flow rate increases the thickness of the liquid film at the same location. The influence of the temperature on the thickness of the liquid film is relatively small, indicating that temperature is not a decisive factor in this process. Through analysis, a model for predicting the thickness of the liquid film at the edge of the centrifugal disc was established on the basis of parameters such as the Weber number ( We ) and Onezog number ( Oh ). The numerical simulation results show that this prediction model can provide more accurate prediction results.