An investigation of soot formation in laminar diffusion flames showed that soot particle surface growth under laminar diffusion flame conditions ceases because of the depletion of hydrocarbon species and not soot particle reactivity loss due to thermal aging of the particles. This result was obtained through direct species concentration measurements under well-controlled conditions, while the particle reactivity effects were calculated based on premixed flame results along with particle temperature/time information available from earlier laminar diffusion flame studies. Comparisons with a soot formation model which incorporated detailed chemistry effects showed good agreement in terms of predicted and measured species concentration and soot particle field evolution. In addition, a novel technique for measuring soot volume fraction was developed based on laser-induced incandescence and was successfully applied to similar laminar diffusion flame studies. This technique was extended to droplet and turbulent diffusion flame conditions where a two-dimensional imaging approach was employed to measure soot volume fraction. Finally, the complete data set from these studies was assembled in a form suitable for dissemination on computer diskettes throughout the research community for comparison with modeling efforts.

Soot Formation in Combustion represents an up-to-date overview. The contributions trace back to the 1991 Heidelberg symposium entitled "Mechanism and Models of Soot Formation" and have all been reedited by Prof. Bockhorn in close contact with the original authors. The book gives an easy introduction to the field for newcomers, and provides detailed treatments for the specialists. The following list of contents illustrates the topics under review: