Modelling particle formation and growth in a plasma synthesis reactor

A model for particle nucleation and growth in a thermal plasma reactor is discussed. A nondimensional form of the aerosol general dynamic equation is derived under a set of simplifying assumptions which are appropriate to plasma powder synthesis, and the resulting set of equations is solved numerically. The results are converted to dimensional form for the cast of Fe powder, for which experimental data are available, and for silicon carbide. Calculated particle sizes increase significantly with increasing reactant concentrations and with decreasing cooling rate, although the influence of cooling rate is mainly a residence time effect. 13 ref.--AA