The Structure of Carbon Arc at Fullerene Synthesis

Author

Smyaglikov, Igor P.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Phys., Nat. Acad. of Sci. of Belarus, Minsk

Volume

36

Issue

4

fYear

2008

Firstpage

1064

Lastpage

1065

Abstract

In this paper, the arc between graphite electrodes under conditions favorable for fullerene synthesis (I = 60-120 A, U = 20-40 V, L = 1-6 mm, p = 1-200 torr) is considered. The time-spatial structure of the arc is studied by means of high-speed imaging. For the first time, it was found out that the arc in question exists in two modes. In the nonstationary mode, the arc looks like two contracted spiral channels coming from an anode spot and revolving on lateral surface of cylindrical electrodes with a frequency of 10-20 kHz. The observed unsteadiness arises from the development of overheating instability of heterogeneous plasma.

Keywords

arcs (electric); carbon; electrodes; fullerenes; materials preparation; plasma instability; C; anode spot; carbon arc structure; contracted spiral channels; current 60 A to 120 A; cylindrical electrode lateral surface; frequency 10 kHz to 20 kHz; fullerene synthesis; graphite electrodes; heterogeneous plasma instability; high-speed imaging; pressure 1 torr to 200 torr; size 1 mm to 6 mm; time-spatial structure; voltage 20 V to 40 V; Carbon arc; fullerene; nonstationary mode; scan; time-spatial structure;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2008.924626

Filename

4544502