The movement and thermal history of an aluminium particle in a RF plasma generator

Abstract

In previous studies on plasma-particle interaction, as far as we know, the rf plasma flow and temperature fields are all simulated by the non-self-consistent one-dimensional electromagnetic (1-D EM) field model. In the present paper, the complete self-consistent two-dimensional electromagnetic (2-D EM) field model incorporating the axial Lorentz force component, which is neglected in the 1-D model, is firstly adopted to calculate the aluminium particle trajectory and thermal history in atmospheric rf Ar plasma with the particle evaporation effect included. The crucial effect of reverse flow within the coil region on the particle trajectory is discovered and the results show that the 2-D EM field model must be adopted instead of the 1-D model when the plasma-particle interaction is studied. The effect of carrier gas flux on the particle movement and heating are also studied, resulting in some useful conclusions for both plasma theory and application.