Thermal and Electrical Properties of an Argon Plasma

Temperatures ranging from 10 000 to 25 000°K have been measured spectroscopically in thermal plasmas of atmospheric pressure argon arcs at currents in the range of 200 to 800 amp. Electrical properties of the plasmas have been derived from measured radial temperature distributions using Spitzer's theory for the temperature dependence of electrical conductivity of a completely ionized gas. Existence of local thermal equilibrium has been demonstrated by the agreement between excitation temperatures determined from both atomic and ionic spectral line intensities. Agreement between values of electrical quantities obtained by direct measurement and those derived from measured temperatures based on the assumption of thermal equilibrium demonstrates the internal consistency of the experimental and analytical methods.