Plasma phenomena in vacuum arc centrifuges

A numerically determined solution to the spatial evolution of the separation, concentration and radial diffusion velocity has been presented. A key result of the model treatment is that the plasma should freeze at outer radii, where the ion-ion collision rate is dramatically reduced, and there should be little development of separation beyond the plasma column. For the available set of experimental data with which results were compared, no such effect was observed, and the model did not correctly predict the separation outside the plasma column. However, it should be noted that, for any future commercial application, it is the separation factor where a reasonable quantity of material is present which is of importance. The model does provide reasonable estimates of the axial development of separation within the plasma column, and thus provides a useful tool for evaluation of vacuum arc centrifuge design