Experimental Study of Oxygen Depletion Effects on Soot Morphology and Nanostructure in Coflow Diffusion Aviation Fuel (RP-3) Flames

Oxygen concentration is a significant factor affecting soot formation and oxidation. However, there are few studies that have focused on the morphology and nanostructure characteristics of soot in aviation kerosene, oxygen-depleted combustion flames. In the present paper, five coflow flames under initial oxygen volume concentrations of 18.5%, 19%, 20%, 21%, and 23.5% were studied. The pneumatic probe sampling method and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis were conducted to quantify the morphology and nanostructure parameters, and laser extinction (LE) was applied to determine the soot volume fraction. Among the cases of different oxidizer oxygen concentrations (23.5% to 18.5%), the change in soot volume fraction was quantified, and the degree of graphitization of soot particles, i.e., the maturity, were compared. The results show that the peak value of soot volume fraction of the flames increased by 0.73 ppm as the oxygen concentration increased from 21% to 23.5%, and decreased by 1.25 ppm as the oxygen concentration decreased from 21% to 18.5%. When the oxygen concentration decreased from 23.5% to 18.5%, the soot primary particle diameter at the same dimensionless height decreased and then increased, which was attributed to the competition between the changes in the residence time and the growth rate of the soot particles. The quantitative analysis results of the soot nanostructure suggested that reduced oxygen concentration inhibited the graphitization process of carbon lattices and decreased the maturity and oxidation resistance of soot. When the oxygen concentration decreased from 23.5% to 18.5% at the same dimensionless height, the mean fringe length decreased by an average of 0.18 nm, and the mean value of fringe tortuosity and spacing increased by an average of 0.053 and 0.035 nm.