Multicomponent gas bubbles. I: Growth of stationary bubbles (Q1100975)

The growth of isolated, stationary gas bubbles which initially consist of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, sulfide or water vapor is analyzed accounting for the bubble surface motion. The bubbles are submerged in an isothermal, soda-lime glass melt. It is shown the bubbles may first shrink and then grow depending on their initial composition. The size of bubbles which initially consist of nitrogen or carbon dioxide increases monotonically with time until an equilibrium is reached with the glass melt gaseous species. The bubble radius is a linear function of time for large times. It is also shown that, for the same glass melt temperature, all bubbles reach the same final composition. However, the time required to reach the final composition depends on the initial bubble composition and glass melt temperature. For a carbon dioxide bubble, the final concentration of sulfide increases with the glass melt temperature, whereas those of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor decrease with the glass melt temperature.