On the dominant ionization mechanism in high pressure nitrogen glow discharges operating in high gas temperature regimes

L. PREVOSTO; H. KELLY; B. MANCINELLI

Congreso; XIV Reunión de fluidos y sus aplicaciones (FLUIDOS 2016); 2016

UNLP

A model of an atmospheric pressure nitrogen glow discharge in high gas temperature regimes is developed.The model considers a fairly complete set of chemical reactions, including several processes with the participationof electronically exited nitrogen atoms describing the energy balance and charged particles kinetic processes inthe discharge. It is shown that the thermal dissociation of vibrationally excited molecules plays an essential rolein the production of ground state atoms. The dominant ion within the investigated current range (52 to 187 mA)is the molecular ion with an increasing proportion of the atomic one towards high current values. The process ofproduction of electrons within the almost whole current range is controlled predominantly by associative ionizationin atomic collisions. The results of calculations are compared with the available experimental data and a goodagreement is found.