Temperature Prediction in a Free-Burning Arc and Electrodes for Nanostructured Materials and Systems

Temperature in a free-burning arc used for synthesis of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials is generally around 20,000 K just below the cathode, falling to about 15,000 K just above the anode, and decreasing rapidly in the radial direction. Therefore, the electrode erosion is indispensable for these atmospheric plasma systems, as well as for switching devices, due to the high heat flux transferred from high temperature arcs to electrodes, but experimental and theoretical works have not identified the characteristic phenomena because of the complex physical processes. To the previous study, we have focused on the arc self-induced fluid flow in a free-burning arc using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. At this time, our investigation is concerned with the whole region of free-burning high-intensity arcs including the tungsten cathode, the arc plasma and the anode using a unified numerical model for applying synthesis of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials practically.