MEASURING THE DIMENSIONS OF PARTICLES IN THE FINELY DISPERSED CONDENSED-PHASE OF EROSION PLASMA-FLOW OVER TIME

The dimensions of particles in a two-phase flow are determined by comp aring the measured and calculated ratios of scattered and absorbed pro bing light. The probing Light is generated by a ruby laser producing r epeating pulses. Two-phase flows containing vapor and condensed partic les are produced by rectangular pulses generated by a neodmium-glass l aser with a width of 400 mu sec and an energy of up to 500 J incident on a porous metal target. The data are collected, stored, and processe d by a computer. By comparing the dimensions of the particles measured by an electron microscope and laser probing, we found that the propos ed technique is fairly reliable and allows us to measure particle dime nsions versus time throughout their life.