Abstract No.:	1194
Title:	Numerical simulations and characterization of a new oxy-fuel ionization process
Authors:	Armelle Vardelle* / University of Limoges-CNRS, France Bernardo Martinez / University Of limoges , France Gilles Mariaux/ University of Limoges, France Georgiy Barykin / INASMET TECNICALIA, Spain María Parco / INASMET TECNICALIA, Spain
Abstract:	This work deals with the numerical simulations and characterisation of new industrial thermal spray process called ?Oxi-Fuel Ionization? (OFI) process that combines HVOF and Plasma technologies.Some advantages expected of the OFI technology, compared to conventional thermal spray methods, are the reduction of the production time, process cost and gas consumption. Also it should make it possible to increase the variety of the deposited materials and the quality of the coating. A numerical modelling of the OFI process will help to gain an increased understanding of process fundamentals and, in the long term, to optimize and control the process.In order to do this, we need (i) to understand the complex physical and chemical phenomena that control the turbulent combustion of a fuel assisted by a thermal plasma, (ii) model the plasma jet and flame, (iii)model the underexpanded supersonic jet outside the gun and (iv) model its interactions with the sprayed powder particles. The numerical simulation describe in this paper is an initial attempt in this direction. It integrates a description of the turbulent flame and considers the plasma jet as a thermal source. Indeed, combustion assisted by a thermal plasma is a new field of research that requires the development of a specific kinetic model as the chemical kinetics involved in the OFI flame are more complicated than those encountered in a classical combustion process because of the high level of temperature (> 7000-10000K) that results in excited species. These numerical simulations are carried out with the FLUENT CFD code and the predictions are validated against experimental measurements achieved at INASMET in Spain, where the actual process is under development.

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