A method for varying the supersaturation in a turbulent mixing CNC has been used to examine heterogeneous
nucleation of different compounds (working fluid) on various nuclei's compositions. Supersaturation was
controlled by changing the vapor pressure of working fluid in nozzle flow, which was accomplished by
saturating only a predetermined fraction of the flow while the keeping the total flow and temperature constant.
This approach allows the partial pressure of the working fluid to be varied while maintaining a constant flow
structure and temperature field. Experimental results characterizing the initial stages of heterogeneous nucleation
are presented for NaCl, KCl, AgCl, and Ag particles. Heterogeneous nucleation was examined at various
pressures of dibutylphthalate, octadecane, octadecanol, and octadecanoic acid. For octadecanoic acid as the
working fluid, the size distribution of the grown particles is unimodal with the size increasing with increasing
pressure of the working fluid. For the other working fluids, the initial size distribution splits into a bimodal
distribution with one mode approximately the same as the initial distribution and a larger sized mode that
grows with increasing pressure of the condensing vapor. For NaCl and octadecane and octadecanol, the initial
unimodal size distribution splits into a trimodal size distribution.
Using a modified turbulent mixing CNC, the heterogeneous nucleation of different compounds (working fluids) on nanometer sized carbon particles was examined. The working fluids were dibutyl phthalate, octadecane, octadecanol, and octadecanoic acid. Based on the particle size distributions measured with a scanning mobility particle sizer system, nucleation and consequent growth were examined with respect to different temperature and vapor pressure for each working fluid. Nucleation rates for all conditions were calculated from the fitted size distribution data by subtracting the residual nonactivated particle concentration for each condition. Experimental nucleation rates were compared to the calculated ones based on Fletcher's heterogeneous nucleation theory. This theory matches well with the experiments with octadecanol and octadecanoic acid, and at high supersaturation ratios for dibutyl phthalate. However, the theory shows discrepancies with the observed phenomena at low supersaturation for dibutyl phthalate, and especially for octadecane. Several possible hypotheses for the discrepancies and observed particle growth are discussed.
A new method for changing the supersaturation in the Turbulent Mixing CNC has been developed and used to examine the transition from heterogeneous nucleation of test particles to homogenous nucleation of working uid: dibutylphthlate (DBP). Supersaturation was controlled by changing the DBP vapor pressure in the nozzle ow by saturating only a predetermined part of the ow, while the total ow and temperature remain constant. This approach allows for the changing of the initial DBP vapor pressure, while keeping the ow structure and temperature eld unchanged. The DBP concentration in the outlet of the vapor generator was measured experimentally for different ratios of saturated and bypass ows and found to be close to estimated values. Experimental results for transitions from heterogeneous nucleation to homogeneous nucleation are presented for NaCl and WO x particles at various DBP vapor pressures. With an increasing of the DBP vapor pressure, the concentration of enlarged particles increases until it reaches a plateau. At higher initial values of DBP pressure, homogeneous nucleation prevails, and the number concentration of particles follows a curve typical for homogeneous nucleation recorded in the absence of nuclei. Nuclei with different mobility diameters were activated at different values of vapor pressure. There are signi cant differences in the slopes of particle activation curves for NaCl and WO x particles. The reasons for such differences are a subject for continuing research.
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