A simple model of a glow discharge electron beam for materials processing

J. I- ETCHEVERRY; N. MINGOLO; J.J. ROCCA; O.E. MARTÍNEZ

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC

Lugar: Albuquerque; Año: 1997 vol. 25 p. 427 - 432

0093-3813

A simple semiempirical model of the electron beam generated by a pulsed cold cathode electron gun has been developed. The model describes analytically the observed self-focusing of the discharge and predicts the dynamical variation of the focal distance, in good agreement with experiments, This effect plays a major role in the determination of the effective duration of the energy pulse, The model was used to conduct simple calculations of energy thresholds for melting of solid materials, giving helpful insight on ranges of operation of this kind of electron gun for its application to material processing, A comparison with available experimental data for Mg70Zn30 samples is given.