Abstract: The application of thermally sprayed coatings on metallic parts has been widely accepted as a solution to improve their mechanical and tribological properties. During High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying, most particles remain in solid state prior to impact. An explicit axisymmetrical FE methodology is developed here to study the particle impingement and to establish the critical particle impact velocity needed for adequate bonding. Attention is focused on the prediction of bonding behavior for a WC-12Co HVOF sprayed coating on an AISI 1045 steel substrate. The numerical results indicate that in HVOF process the kinetic energy of the particle prior to impact plays the most dominant role on melting of the particle in interface region.