Combustion of Hydrogen and Hydrocarbons in Fluorine
Abstract
Our program is directed towards increasing understanding of combustion processes in general, as well as advancing the application of fluorine-supported combustion in areas such as propulsion and chemical lasers. Since fluorine is monovalent, combustion in fluorine is chemically much simpler than combustion in oxygen. However, in fluorine-based combustion most of the energy is initially deposited into vibration (of HF), and transfer of energy from vibrationally excited species must be considered. Experiments in H2-F2 flames to which very small amounts of Methane have been added are particularly revealing and indicate that the most likely mechanism for explaining luminescence from CH and CHF radicals in these flames is vibration-to-electronic energy transfer from highly vibrationally excited HF. C2 emission probably results from the CH + CH yields C2* + H2 reaction. These conclusions suggest that the ratio I(CH)/(ICH2)1/2 is a useful diagnostic for vibrationally excited HF in H2-F2 propulsion and laser systems. Ionization is not intrinsic to fluorine-hydrocarbon combustion, but often results from oxygen impurity in fluorine. Fluorine combustion systems show a variety of nonsteady behaviors, which are postulated to be due to changes in concentrations of vibrationally excited species in the system. The method of kinetic titrations has been developed to obtain stoichiometric, kinetic and mechanistic information about chemical reactions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 05, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA214621
Entities
People
- Myron Kaufman
Organizations
- Emory University