IGC synthesis of tin nanophase particles Part I: Study on convection gas currents in IGC chamber

Abstract

In order to optimise process variables during the synthesis of tin nanophase particles in an inert gas condensation (IGC) chamber, a two-dimensional finite difference method (FDM) simulation on convection gas currents is proposed and calculated for various boundary conditions. The convection gas velocity and temperature for the 95×105 positions in the chamber were calculated by simulation and compared with experimental results. In the FDM simulation, the governing equations consisted of continuity, momentum, and energy equations. The effects of convection gas pressure, evaporation temperature, position of the evaporation source, and chamber size on the formation of convection currents were investigated by the FDM simulation and experiments. It turned out that among various process variables, the convection gas pressure played the most important role in the formation of the convection gas current that gave rise to an impact on the shape and size of synthesised tin nanophase particles.