Characterization of Plasma Pencil Pulsed Discharge

In this paper, the optical emission spectroscopy (OES) of plasma pencil generated at atmospheric pressure with pulsed voltage was studied. Single-electrode and two-electrode configurations to approximate the conditions during various material treatment have been compared. By means of time-resolved OES, particle behavior during pulse duration, particularly atomic and molecular components represented by Ar lines and OH band, has been studied. The axial distribution of the rotational and the electron temperature showed that the presence of conductive material in plasma jet increased the rotational and electron temperature and even influenced the particle behavior inside the plasma nozzle. Furthermore, it was found that rotational temperature can be easily controlled by the duty cycle.