Modelling particulate injection in thermal plasma material processing experiments

As part of the research on thermal plasma processing of materials, the trajectories and heating of particles injected into an argon plasma were investigated. In this study, which involved the carbothermic reduction of alumina, the temperature and velocity fields of the plasma column and plume were calculated first. Then, the particle dynamics and heat and mass transfer of the injected species were solved with corrected drag and head and mass transfer coefficients. In addition, the coupling effects between the multiple injected particles and the plasma plume were taken into account. The argon plasma was generated in a direct current, free length arc torch that can be operated at powers from 5 to 25 kW. 29 refs., 8 figs