Silica aggregate formation was studied in one-dimensional (1-D) premixed methane/hexamethyldisiloxane/air flames by angle-dependent light scattering measurements for various siloxane concentrations, flame temperatures and equivalence ratios, using Guinier analysis to interpret the experimental data. A sublinear dependence of the aggregate radii of gyration of generated silica particles on residence time, and nonmonotonic dependence on flame temperature with maximum around 2000 K have been observed, with radii of gyration in the range of 10 to 120 nm. Furthermore, a lean flame environment appears to foster aggregate growth compared to rich and stoichiometric flames, in which growth is very similar. When fixing the initial conditions at the residence time corresponding to the first measurement point, a simple model describing particle evolution as a result of collisional growth and sintering predicts the functional dependence of the growth of particle radii well.
The growth of soot volume fraction and aggregate size was studied in burner-stabilized premixed C2H4/air flames with equivalence ratios between 2.0 and 2.35 as function of height above the burner using laser-induced incandescence (LII) to measure soot volume fractions and angle-dependent light scattering (ADLS) to measure corresponding aggregate sizes. Flame temperatures were varied at fixed equivalence ratio by changing the exit velocity of the unburned gas mixture. Temperatures were measured using spontaneous Raman scattering in flames with equivalence ratios up to ϕ = 2.1, with results showing good correspondence (within 50 K) with temperatures calculated using the San Diego mechanism. Both the soot volume fraction and radius of gyration strongly increase in richer flames. Furthermore, both show a nonmonotonic dependence on flame temperature, with a maximum occurring at ~1675 K for the volume fraction and ~1700 K for the radius of gyration. The measurement results were compared with calculations using two different semiempirical two-equation models of soot formation. Numerical calculations using both mechanisms substantially overpredict the measured soot volume fractions, although the models do better in richer flames. The model accounting for particle coagulation overpredicts the measured radii of gyration substantially for all equivalence ratios, although the calculated values improve at ϕ = 2.35.
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