Temperatures of metallic and Ar atoms in Ar arc plasma on melting of metal

In order to examine the effect of metallic vapor on temperature of Ar plasma, graphite, pure iron and Fe-5mass%Mn alloy were melted in Ar are plasma as an anode material. The high speed and high sensitive multi-channel monochromator was used for measurement of intensity of spectral lines. Based on these intensities, distribution of temperatures of metallic and Ar atoms were calculated. Measured temperature of metallic atom was different from that of Ar atom, and local thermal equilibrium was not established. The temperatures bf Ar atom in the center of are column were about 9000K, 11000K and 9000K for graphite, pure iron and Fe-5mass%Mn alloy, respectively. This is due to the different plasma current density and electric conductivity of plasma. The details of configuration of plasma column and plasma current characteristic were discussed.