Prediction of the critical reduced electric field strength for carbon dioxide and its mixtures with copper vapor from Boltzmann analysis for a gas temperature range of 300 K to 4000 K at 0.4 MPa

Abstract

The influence of copper vapor mixed in hot CO2 on dielectric breakdown properties of gas mixture at a fixed pressure of 0.4 MPa for a temperature range of 300 K–4000 K is numerically analyzed. First, the equilibrium composition of hot CO2 with different copper fractions is calculated using a method based on mass action law. The next stage is devoted to computing the electron energy distribution functions (EEDF) by solving the two-term Boltzmann equation. The reduced ionization coefficient, the reduced attachment coefficient, and the reduced effective ionization coefficient are then obtained based on the EEDF. Finally, the critical reduced electric field (E/N)cr is obtained. The results indicate that an increasing mole fraction of copper markedly reduces (E/N)cr of the CO2–Cu gas mixtures because of copper's low ionization potential and large ionization cross section. Additionally, the generation of O2 from the thermal dissociation of CO2 contributes to the increase of (E/N)cr of CO2–Cu hot gas mixtures from about 2000 K to 3500 K.