Calculation of diffusion coefficients in air–metal thermal plasmas

This paper presents the combined diffusion coefficients of metal vapours (silver, copper and iron) in air thermal plasmas for temperatures ranging from 300 to 30 000 K. The theory used to calculate these coefficients is remembered and validated by comparison with the literature values in several cases such as Ar–He, Ar–Cu and N2–O2 mixtures. The results are discussed showing the influences of the metal concentration, of the vapour nature and of the pressure. The results show rather similar behaviour for the three metals. The maximum values of the combined ordinary diffusion coefficient in the evolution with temperature are obtained for temperature around 10 000 K but this peak is shifted to the highest temperatures when the metal proportion increases. Another result shows that the diffusion coefficient decreases when pressure increases.