Chemical kinetic modelling of non-equilibrium Ar-CO2 thermal plasmas

A chemical kinetic model has been constructed to predict the gas and electron temperature dependence of the neutral and ionic species composition in Ar-CO2 mixtures under thermal plasma conditions. The model includes electron impact, thermal impact, ion-molecule. and recombination reactions as well as accounting for diffusion. Important metastable and excited states of species have been accounted for as well as the presence of neutral molecules, radicals, and atoms, positively and negatively charged atoms and molecular ions, and electrons. All relevant electron temperature, gas temperature and pressure terms have been included. Under thermodynamic non-equilibrium conditions, Ar, CO, and O were found to be the dominant neutral species: CO positive ion, and O- and electrons the dominant negatively charged species.