Finite element modeling of coating thickness using heat transfer method

Abstract A new heat transfer based finite element model is proposed to simulate coating thickness in the electron-beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) process. The major advantage of the proposed model is that it is much computationally efficient than the traditional ray-tracing based model by about two orders of magnitude. This is because the Gaussian distribution heating source has the same profile as the cosine relation used in the ray-tracing method. Firstly, the model simulates the temperature profile of a metal substrate heated by a heating source with a Gaussian distribution. Then using a calibrated conversion process, the temperature profile is converted to corresponding coating thickness. The model is successfully demonstrated by three validation cases, including a stationary disk, a stationary cylinder, and a rotary three-pin component. The predicted coating thicknesses in the validation cases are in good agreement with either the ray-tracing based analytical solution or experimental data. After its validation, the model is applied to a rotary turbine blade to predict its coating thickness distribution. In summary, the model is capable to simulate coating thickness in complex shaped parts.