An experimental study on mechanisms of soot inception and nucleation in diffusion flames is presented. Microscopic amounts of soot samples are collected from benzene, acetylene, and methane diffusion flames. The molecular composition of these samples are analyzed using a laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Preliminary results clearly indicate that soot samples generated by different fuels have different chemical structures. Surprisingly, methane soot contained the largest carbon clusters and acetylene soot generated the smallest carbon clusters.

Date Published: 18 March 1994
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 2122, Laser Applications in Combustion and Combustion Diagnostics II, (18 March 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.171286

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2122:
Laser Applications in Combustion and Combustion Diagnostics II
Randy J. Locke, Editor(s)