Flattening and Cooling of Millimeter- and Micrometer-Sized Alumina Drops

An experimental setup was developed to produce fully melted, millimeter-sized, ceramic or metallic drops with impact velocities up to 10 m/s. Such impact velocities allow achievement of impact Weber numbers, close to those of the plasma spray process (We = 2300) with droplets in the tens of micrometer size range. A fast camera (4000 image/s) combined with a fast pyrometer (4000 Hz), allowed the flattening of the drop to be followed. To study the flattening of micrometer-sized droplets, a direct-current (dc) plasma torch was used to melt alumina particles (around 45 mu m in diameter). The experimental setup was composed of a fast (50 ns) two-color pyrometer and two fast (at best an exposure time of 2 mu s) charge-coupled device cameras (one orthogonal and other tangential to the substrate). The flattening behaviors of millimeter- and micrometer-sized particles were compared. First, impacts of alumina drops (millimeter-sized) with velocities up to 10 m/s were studied. Results were then compared with micrometer-sized alumina particles (about 45 mu m in diameter) sprayed with the dc plasma torch. A correlation was found between both flattening scales, and, in spite of the lower impact velocity at the millimeter scale, droplet ejections were also found as obtained at the micrometer scale. This work shows that for a sound comparison of phenomena at the two different scales it is mandatory to have Weber numbers as close as possible in both cases.