A power interruption technique for determining the difference between electron and gas temperatures in the argon d.c. arc supplied with aqueous aerosol

The difference between electron and gas temperatures in a low current U-shaped d.c. arc with aqueous aerosol supply was studied using a power interruption technique. Monitoring of the temporal evolution of recombination continuum after power switch-off revealed that it was necessary to do a correction of the measured values due to a change in electron concentration. It was shown that the plasma studied was a two temperature type and that the temperature difference ranges from 1850 K to 600 K for arc currents from 3 to 10.5 A, respectively. A comparison with literature results for pure argon arc plasma shows that aerosol introduction reduces the temperature difference.