Rev. Phys. Appl. (Paris) 17, 15-20 (1982)
DOI: 10.1051/rphysap:0198200170101500

Plasma generation in vibrationally nonequilibrium molecular gas flows

O.V. Achasov, N.A. Fomin, D.S. Ragozin, R.I. Soloukhin et S.A. Zhdanok

Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, Minsk 220728, USSR

Abstract
Experimental and theoretical studies are made of the associative molecular gas ionization phenomena in N2 and CO under the adiabatic expansion and cooling of a shock-heated gas. It is shown that for a wide range of conditions, the contribution of the associative ionization mechanism substantially exceeds (by several orders of magnitude) the thermal one.

Résumé
L'ionisation associative des molécules N2 et CO en refroidissement adiabatique après chauffage en tube à choc est étudié expérimentalement et théoriquement. On montre que dans un large intervalle de conditions, la contribution des méchanismes d'ionisation associative dépasse considérablement (de plusieurs ordres de grandeur) la contribution thermique.

PACS
4740N - Shock wave interactions.
4770 - Reactive, radiative, or nonequilibrium flows.
5150 - Electrical phenomena in gases.
5250L - Plasma production and heating by shock waves and compression.

Key words
carbon compounds -- ionisation of gases -- nitrogen -- shock waves -- adiabatic cooling -- plasma production -- vibrationally nonequilibrium molecular gas flows -- associative molecular gas ionization -- N sub 2 -- CO -- adiabatic expansion -- shock heated gas