Role of recombination, ionization, diffusion and convection in a decaying argon plasma

A theoretical study of a decaying argon arc plasma, at atmospheric pressure, has been performed to determine the plasma state during the decay. The method is based on the transport equations combined with the knowledge of the electron density previously measured. The comparison between calculated and experimental results allows the analysis of the main processes responsible for the particle density evolutions. It is shown that departures from LTE are important and that thermal equilibrium is not even achieved in the plasma. This result is due to the role of elastic collisions between electrons and heavy particles in the electron energy balance. (orig.)