Net emission coefficients of argon iron plasmas with electron Stark widths scaled to experiments

The net emission coefficient of plasmas containing argon and iron at atmospheric pressure is calculated and analysed for the case of cylindrical geometry. Its values are obtained by integrating the monochromatic net emission coefficient taking into account continuous and line radiation. The width of the spectral lines is determined by Doppler broadening, natural, resonance, van der Waals, electron and ion Stark broadening. As Stark broadening is the most important broadening mechanism in the considered pressure and temperature range, the electron Stark widths are calculated following the semi-empirical Stark broadening theory. Additionally, the electron Stark widths of Ar, Ar+, Fe and Fe+ are multiplied by scaling factors in order to reproduce experimental electron Stark widths. The scaling factor is determined for each species separately. For small plasma radii the net emission coefficient determined here shows good agreement with literature values where spherical geometry is considered while they decrease faster with increasing plasma radius. This behaviour is caused by the increase of the irradiation of the symmetry axis when cylindrical instead of spherical geometry is considered. For radii and temperatures typical of the metal filled core of arcs occurring in gas metal arc welding processes, i.e. radii between 1 and 2 x 10(-3) m and temperatures between 5000 and 10 000 K, the scaling of the Stark widths increases the net emission coefficient of iron plasmas by between 2% and 23%. In this parameter range the net emission coefficient of iron plasmas for cylindrical geometry is between 30% and 37% smaller than values calculated for spherical geometry.