The circular thermo-phoretic spectrometer (CTSM), a new device for the study of the thermophoresis, Application on the fractals soot particles

This work aims to improve the understanding of soot particle deposition by thermophoresis. In order to show the influence of the morphology of a fractal aggregate on its thermo-phoretic behavior, a new experimental device has been developed; the SpectroMetre Thermophoretique Circulaire (SMTC). This instrument is used to measure the mean thermo-phoretic velocity of particles selected between a hot plate and a cold plate thanks to a transfer function based on the geometry of the radial flow differential mobility analyser RF-DMA or SMEC (Spectrometre de Mobilite Electrique Circulaire). For the experimental validation, effective thermo-phoretic velocities of monodispersed spherical latex particles for diameters ranging from 64 nm to 500 nm and a temperature gradient equal to 50 750 K/m are measured and compared with theoretical values. The good agreement between the experimental results and theoretical values of Beresnev and Chernyak (1995) helps us to validate the operation of the instrument. Then we compare experimental thermo-phoretic velocity obtained with the SMTC for spherical particles and aggregates produced by a combustion aerosol generator. Contrary to the results obtained with the PSL particles, we observe that the thermo-phoretic velocity of aggregates increases with the electrical mobility diameter. Thanks to a morphological study of the aggregates, we showed that the thermo-phoretic velocity depends on the number of primary particles of the aggregate. These experimental results confirm, for the first time, the theoretical data of Mackowski (2006) obtained by a Monte Carlo simulation. Moreover, a comparison with the experimental results of Messerer et al. (2003) shows that the thermo-phoretic velocity of aggregates seems independent of the primary particle size. (author)