Plasma Arc Discharge Process Research Articles

Characteristics of Fe Nano Powders Synthesized by Plasma Arc Discharge Process

Fe nano powders were synthesized by plasma arc discharge (PAD) process and studied by means of X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Pure Fe rod(<TEX>$99.9\%$</TEX>) was used as a source of metallic vapor under argon and hydrogen mixed atmosphere. The synthesized Fe nano powders had nearly spherical shapes and core-shell type structures. The influence of process parameters on the structure and size was investigated. The powder size increased with increasing of the chamber pressure and input current. High hydrogen gas ratio in chamber atmosphere affected the particle size and amount of Fe nanopowder.

플라즈마 아크 방전법에서 Fe 나노 분말 형성에 미치는 공정변수의 영향

To investigate the effect of the parameters of the plasma arc discharge process on the particle formation and particle characteristics of the iron nano powder, the chamber pressure, input current and the hydrogen volume fraction in the powder synthesis atmosphere were changed. The particle size and phase structure of the synthesized iron powder were studied using the FE-SEM, FE-TEM and XRD. The synthesized iron powder particle had a core-shell structure composed of the crystalline <TEX>$\alpha$</TEX>-Fe in the core and the crystalline <TEX>$Fe_3O_4$</TEX> in the shell. The powder generation rate and particle size mainly depended on the hydrogen volume fraction in the powder synthesis atmosphere. The particle size increased simultaneously with increasing the hydrogen volume fraction from 10% to 50%, and it ranged from about 45nm to 130 nm.