Numerical analysis on RF (Radio Frequency) thermal plasma treatment of micro-sized Ni metal was carried out to understand the synthesis mechanism of nano-sized Ni powder by HF thermal plasma. For this puipose, the behaviors of Ni metal particles injected into HF plasma torch were investigated according to their diameters (1 100 pin). RF input power (6~12 kW) and the flow rates of carrier gases (2 and 5 slpm). From the numerical results, it is predicted firstly that the velocities of carrier gases need to be minimized because the strong injection of carrier gas can cool down the central column of RF thermal plasma significantly, which is used as a main path for RF thermal plasma treatment of micro-sized Ni metal. In addition, the residence time of the injected particles in the high temperature region of RF thermal plasma is found to be also reduced in proportion to the flow rate of the carrier gas In spite of these effects of carrier gas velocities, however, calculation results show that a Ni metal particle even with the diameter of 100 pin can be completely evaporated at relatively low power level of 10 kW during its flight of HF thermal plasma torch (< 10 ms) due to the relatively low melting point and high thermal conductivity. Based on these observations, nano-sized Ni metal powders are expected to be produced efficiently by a simple treatment of micro-sized Ni metal using HF thermal plasmas.

A Xe plasma flat lamp, which has been noticed as a new eco-friendly LCD (liquid crystal display) backlight, requires the improvement of the luminance and the luminous efficiency although it has several advantages. To improve the performance of a lamp, it is necessary to understand the effects of discharge variables on the luminous characteristics of the lamp. Since it is difficult to diagnose a lamp discharge experimentally, the numerical analysis can be used instead. In this study, the luminous characteristics of a planar type Xe plasma flat lamp were analyzed with the variation of an input voltage and a pulse frequency. The numerical analysis of a lamp discharge was then performed using a RCT (relaxation continuum) model and a LFA (local field approximation) model. The comparison with the experimental results showed that the RCT model is valid for the numerical analysis of the flat lamp. The numerical analysis also showed that the modifications of a high frequency component and a voltage falling rate in the input voltage waveform could improve the luminous characteristics of the lamp.