Temperature profiles of an ablation controlled arc in PTFE: II. Simulation of side-on radiances

Abstract

The temperature determination by spectroscopic measurements in high-current high-pressure arcs in a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) nozzle under the assumption of an optically thin plasma has been investigated. Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium the radial temperature distributions as well as the plasma pressures have been determined by fitting a model to measured spectral radiances considering line and continuum absorption. It is shown that absorption has to be included in the error estimate of the experimental results. The different effects, which cause deviations from the optically thin case, have been analysed numerically and by using a simplified analytical model. The theoretically estimated pressures sensitively depend on the Stark broadening. In the studied plasmas the calculated large electron densities indicate a marked reduction of the Stark widths by nonideality effects. The applicability of the experimental method has been proved for suitably chosen lines.