Mapping of soot particles in a weakly sooting diffusion flame by aerosol techniques

The evolution of detailed particle size distributions has been measured along the centerline of an axisymmetric diffusion flame of CH4 + Ar burning in air at 1 atm. Soot particles with mean diameters of 3-18 nm were observed. Changes in the size distribution exhibited zones where either nucleation, coagulation, or destruction of soot particles dominated. These highly sensitive measurements were made by microprobe sampling with an immediate dilution of 1:400, to quench the aerosol, and by subsequent application of aerosol measurement techniques. In parallel, the yield of photoemitted electrons from size-selected particles was determined. The yield shows a characteristic dependence on location in the flame, indicating changes of the particle's surface. Multiphoton, time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to investigate the correlation between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the flame and enhanced photoemission yield from the soot particles. (C) 1998 by The Combustion Institute.