Open AccessCharacterization of DC argon plasma jet at atmospheric pressure
Author(s) -
Jianhua Yan,
Xiaoguang Tu,
Zhongqing Ma,
Xin-Chao Pan,
Kefa Cen,
Cheron Bruno
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.55.3451
Subject(s) - argon , plasma , plasma torch , jet (fluid) , materials science , atomic physics , atmospheric pressure , atmospheric pressure plasma , excitation temperature , electron temperature , plasma parameters , plasma cleaning , emission spectrum , physics , mechanics , nuclear physics , astronomy , meteorology , spectral line
An original DC double anode plasma torch operating with argon at atmospheric pressure which provides a long time and highly stable plasma jet is analyzed through its electrical and optical signals. Effects of gas flow rate and current intensity on the arc dynamics behaviour are studied using standard diagnostic tools such as FFT and correlation function. An increasing current-voltage characteristic is reported for different argon flow rates. It is noted that the takeover mode is characteristic for argon plasma jet and arc fluctuations in our case are mainly induced by the undulation of torch power supply. Furthermore, the excitation temperatures and electron densities of the plasma jet inside and outside the arc chamber have been determined by means of optical emission spectroscopy (OES).The criteria for the existence of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) in plasma is then discussed. The results show that argon plasma jet at atmospheric pressure under our experimental conditions is close to LTE.