Abstract:
Studies of the free burning high current arcs fanned by weak nitrogen or argon flow, with parameters typical for plasmochemical reactors and currents of about $10$ kA, are performed. The electrodes were made of carbon and metals. In this case we show that, under the arc stabilization by nitrogen or argon, a significant number of charge carriers enter the arc due to ionization of carbon and metal atoms. When the high current arc is switched by a melt the main part of the arc energy is imparted into the melt and not more than $35\%$ of the energy is transferred into the bulk of the reactor.