Homogeneous Nucleation of Metals in a Plasma~Quench Reactor," submitted for publication to Plasma Chern. Plasma Process

We present a nell ' and general application of the method of moments for modeling the nucleation of condensates in a steady-state supersonic nozzle fiow generated in a plasma-quench reactor. A closed set of groll'th/evaporation rate equations has been employed to propagate the moments of the particle size distribution without invoking the usual coarse-graining or truncation approximations of conventional binning approaches. The method has been employed to calculate the nucleation rates, particle nll/nber density, and the particle-size distribWion for II elemental metals (Ag, AI. Be, Ce, Cr, Fe, Gd, Ti, Th, U, and Zr) condensing in a model argon nozzlefiol\'. We have identified the regions in the nozzle ofmaximum nucleation rate, and have sholl'n holl ' dijferelll particle-size distributions can develop in dijferent regions. KEY WORDS: Homogeneous nucleation; metal vapors; supersonic flow nozzle; plasma quench reactor. 1