Mechanism of Enhanced Vaporization from Molten Metal Surface by Argon-Hydrogen Arc Plasma

A DC arc with hydrogen addition is one of the promising routes to prepare nanoparticles with high productivity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism of vaporization enhancement of a particular metal from a molten metal mixture by the DC arc method with hydrogen addition. The selective enhanced vaporization of Sn from a Sn-Ag molten mixture by an Ar-H-2 arc was confirmed. Spectroscopic measurements were conducted to investigate the vaporization mechanism on the anode boundary region. The obtained results indicated that Sn was mainly vaporized as SnH from the molten Sn-Ag mixture, which decomposed to H and Sn vapor soon after SnH was vaporized. The mechanism of the vaporization enhancement of particular metal from a molten metal mixture by an Ar-H-2 arc is mainly attributed to the formation of the metal hydride. (C) 2013 The Japan Society of Applied Physics