Velocity measurements inside the concentration boundary layer during copper-magneto-electrolysis using a novel laser Doppler profile sensor

Abstract

The evolution of the velocity boundary layer during the initial phase of copper electrolysis under the influence of a magnetic field is studied by using particle image velocimetry and a novel laser Doppler velocity profile sensor. With this new sensor, time-resolved velocity measurements within 400 μm of a vertically aligned cathode in an aqueous 0.05 M CuSO 4-solution are presented. In this way, the complex interaction of Lorentz force and opposing buoyancy-driven convection was studied by measuring the resulting velocity profile inside the concentration boundary layer with a spatial resolution of 15 μm. It is shown that the Lorentz force-driven convection only dominates the velocity boundary layer during the early phase of electrolysis and induces a linear velocity profile near the cathode. The linear relationship between the velocity gradient and Lorentz force is determined. With the onset of the opposing buoyancy-driven convection at the cathode, a duplex structure of the boundary layer appears. Its characteristic quantities, given by the horizontal distances, δ max and δ v = 0 , where the velocity reaches the maximum and where it is equal to zero, remain nearly unchanged, while the maximum velocity, v max , in spite of the counteracting Lorentz force, increases faster as compared to pure natural convection, depending on the current density.