Investigations of Droplet‐Plasma Interaction using Multi‐Dimensional Coupled Model

Recently developed multi‐dimensional coupled fluid‐droplet model is used to investigate the behavior of complex interaction between the liquid precursor droplets and atmospheric pressure plasma (APP). The significance of this droplet‐plasma interaction is not well understood under diverse realm of working conditions in two‐phase flow. In this study, we explain the implication of vaporization of liquid droplets in APP which are subsequently responsible to control major characteristics of surface coating depositions. Coalescence of water droplets is more dominant than Hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) droplets because of its sluggish rate of evaporation. A disparity in the performance of evaporation is identified in two independent mediums, such as gas mixture and discharge plasma using HMDSO precursor. The length of evaporation of droplets is amplified by an increment of gas flow rate indicating with a reduction in the gas temperature and electron mean energy. In particular, the spatio‐temporal density distributions of charged particles show a clear pattern in which the typical nitrogen impurity ions are primarily effective as compared to other helium ionic species along the pulse of droplets in APP. Finally, we contrast the behavior of discharge species in the pure helium and He‐N2 gas mixtures revealing the importance of stepwise and Penning ionization processes. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)