Chemical Kinetics

The rates of chemical reaction and how these rates vary with temperature and pressure are the fundamental building blocks of models of chemically reacting processes. Complex sets of bimolecular chemical reactions are used to build models of diverse problems such as

• Plasma processing of materials
• The impact of various pollutants on the composition of the atmosphere
• Understanding how to control the effluent of combustion processes

The rate constants for the reactions used in these models must be determined as a function of pressure and temperature, requiring

• Evaluation of reported rate constant data
• Measurements of basic chemical kinetics
• Estimates of reaction rate parameters

The selection of reaction rates for a complex chemical mechanism must self-consistently determine the chemical kinetics parameters and the mechanism must be validated against laboratory measurements.

In the Lasers and Sensors Group at SRI, we have an international reputation for evaluating chemical reaction rates:

• Prime contractor in the development of GRI-Mech to model the combustion of natural gas

• Members of the NASA panel to evaluate chemical reaction rate constants for modeling atmospheric chemistry

• We have studied the influence of fuel additives for gasoline engines, the shock-induced chemistry produced when space vehicles reenter the atmosphere, and the chemistry of diamond film deposition.

• In current projects, we are developing chemical mechanisms for specific plasma processes for silicon devices, measuring reaction rates crucial to the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere, and producing NO_x by combustion.

Visit the Laboratory - Molecular Physics Laboratory

Technical Contact:
Gregory P. Smith
(650) 859-3496
gregory.smith@sri.com