| Abstract: | Various methods for calculating electron-ion recombination and ionization coefficients for argon (α and S) have been developed in the past. For given values of electron temperature and electron density, a large dispersion exists between the different results due to a great number of parameters. We have developed the method based on the collisional-radiative model to calculate α and S for limited conditions (atmospheric pressure; strong resonance radiation absorption) in order to obtain realistic values applicable in real cases such as arc plasmas. Influences of resonance radiation absorption and atom-atom collisions have been studied. The collisional-radiative recombination coefficient has been compared with results obtained by other calculation methods: the best agreement occurs with the “bottleneck” model for high values of electron density and temperature. Finally the comparison with available experimental results shows a good agreement between our computed values and experimental values when experimental and theoretical conditions are analogous. |
