High Temperature Plasma Properties from High Current Arc Stream Measurements

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Abstract
The high current arc stream in air, operated at currents between 150 and 250 amperes, with an axial temperature between 10,000 and 12,000°K, is shown to be a very uniform high temperature plasma. Probe measurements of the potential gradient along the axis of the arc stream, and of its effective diameter, lead to the conclusion that its plasma has a constant electrical resistivity of 1/100 ohm-centimeter, widely independent of the arc current. From this resistivity, the current density, the potential gradient and the plasma temperature, empirical values of the electron mobility, their relaxation length, and the effective ion cross sections in the plasma are derived. The value of the ion cross section agrees well with that computed from a theoretical formula of Druyvesteyn, but is by a factor smaller than those generally considered correct.

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