A thermophysical modelling of electric discharge coating process

Abstract

This research paper presents a thermophysical model development and simulation of the electric discharge coating process (EDC). Many literature are available for the electric discharge coating process from an experimental perspective. A 2-D axisymmetric model was initially developed with the realistic assumption with multispark overlap conditions considered in this work. The melt pool volume of the tool material is estimated from the 2D model. The 3D coating model was developed using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4. This model predicts the temperature distribution on the green compact tool electrode and coating thickness on the substrate. To validate the simulation model, the experimental result from the literature is compared with the simulation result. The simulation and validation trials results reveal that the present developed coating model can predict the coating thickness with minimum error (4%–14%). The developed multispark model for the EDC process can be referenced to understand the coating mechanism for various tools and workpiece materials.