Metal vapor condensation in a converging nozzle

The nucleation and growth of a zinc vapor/particle mixture in converging nozzles are analytically and experimentally studied. The pressure, temperature, velocity and growth distributions along the nozzle are calculated. The effects of nozzle initial pressures and nozzle half angles on the nucleation and, therefore, on size distribution of the exiting particles are analyzed. The nucleation process is also experimentally studied with a linear nozzle of different initial vapor temperatures. The produced metallic particles are examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and the size distributions are obtained. Comparisons of experimental results with the analysis are made.