Influence of the Properties of the Furnace Atmosphere on Microsphere Quality

The influence of the gaseous atmosphere inside the installation for microsphere production on the quality of the microsphere surface is discussed. The heat-exchange environment of a furnace controls the rate of heating of the initial granules, the character of the interaction of the viscous gas environment with the falling liquid hollow sphere, and the rate of cooling of the resultant microsphere. For an Ar:He mixture of gases it is shown experimentally that the change of the component percentage of the gas mix results in a different character in the surface quality of the obtained microspheres. Regions of gas mixture composition are found where the surfaces of polystyrene or glass microspheres have no characteristic defects. These compositions are not the same for glass and polystyrene. We present a physical explanation of these observations.