Formation of iron micro-tubes in plasma

Iron particles, under the shape of tubes, with a diameter ranging between 1 and 100 mum and wall thickness between x 0.1 and x 1 mum constitute the object of the paper. The condition for iron micro-tubes formation and its correlation with the main technological parameters for the generation of these particles in plasma are presented. Using the model for the rebuilding of the surface, the paper shows that the duration of iron micro-tubes formation in the plasma of the transferred arc ranges between x 10(-11) and X 10(-6) s. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.