Drag force acting on an evaporating particle immersed in a rarefied plasma flow

Abstract

Analytical expressions are presented for the drag force acting on an evaporating or nonevaporating particle immersed in a plasma flow for the extreme case of free-molecule flow regime and thin plasma .sheath. It is shown that the drag force on a spherical particle is proportional to the square of the particle radius and to the relative velocity between the particle and the bulk plasma at low speed ratios. The existence of a relative velocity between the particle and the plasma results in a nonuniform heat flux distribution with its rnaximum value at the frontal stagnation point of tire sphere. This nonuniform distribution of the local heat fux density causes a nonuniforrn distribution of the local evaporated-mass flux and vapor reaction force around the surface of an evaporating particle, and thus induces an additional force on the particle. Consequently, the drag force acting on art evaporating particle is always greater than that on a nonevaporating one. This additional drag force due to particle evaporation is more significant for nonmetallic particles and for particle materials with lower latent heat of evaporation and lower vapor molecular mass. It increases with increasing plasma temperature and with decreasing gas pressure at the high plasma temperatures associated with appreciable gas ionization. The drag ratio increases with increasing electron/heavy-particle temperature ratio at high electron temperatures for a two-temperature plasma.