Analysis of an Ar plasma jet in a dielectric barrier discharge conjugated with a microsecond pulse

In this work, an Ar plasma jet generated by an AC-microsecond-pulse-driven dielectric barrier discharge reactor, which had two ring-shaped electrodes isolated from the ambient atmosphere by transformer oil, was investigated. By special design of the oil insulation, a chemically active Ar plasma jet along with a safe and stable plasma process as well as low emission of CO and NO_x were successfully achieved. The results indicated that applied voltage and frequency were basic factors influencing the jet temperature, discharge power, and jet length, which increased significantly with the two operating parameters. Meanwhile, gas velocity affected the jet temperature in a reverse direction. In comparison with a He plasma jet, the Ar plasma jet had relatively low jet temperature under the same level of the input parameters, being preferable for bio-applications. The Ar plasma jet has been tested to interact with human skin within 5 min without the perception of burnt skin and electrical shock.     

Plasma treatment for enhancement of the sorption capacity of carbon fabric

In this work we carried out an experimental investigation into enhancement of the sorption capacity of carbon fabric using plasma treatment methods.Carbon fabric is based on viscose fiber and is hydrophobic by nature.Enhancement of the fabric sorption capacity is required for its application in medicine.For this purpose,two plasma treatment methods were considered,i.e.atmospheric nonequilibrium radiofrequency(RF)discharge and a vacuum RF plasma source with an external magnetic field.Samples treated by atmospheric discharge demonstrated aging effects during the first week after treatment.The sorption capacity of samples treated by the RF plasma source was stable over the same period and reached values as high as 0.95.Parameters of the beam created by the vacuum RF plasma source were analyzed and dependences of the fabric sorption capacity and specific surface area on plasma treatment time were investigated.We found that sorption capacity reached its maximum value after 30 min of treatment and did not change significantly if processing was continued,while the specific surface area reached its maximum after 3 min of treatment and quickly decreased after that.It was found that the micropore structure of the fabric remained almost the same during plasma treatment.The volume of mesopores in a unit of the fabric mass(specific volume)doubled during the first 5 min of treatment and returned to initial values after 30 min of treatment.The sorption capacity continued to increase even when the specific surface area decreased after reaching its peak value.This indicates the important role of surface functional groups formed on carbon fibers during plasma treatment.This is consistent with the results of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showing changes in surface oxidation during plasma treatment.     

Experimental Characterization of the Plasma Synthetic Jet Actuator

The plasma synthetic jet is a novel active flow control method because of advantages such as fast response,high frequency and non-moving parts,and it has received more attention recently,especially regarding its application to high-speed flow control.In this paper,the experimental characterization of the plasma synthetic jet actuator is investigated.The actuator consists of a copper anode,a tungsten cathode and a ceramic shell,and with these three parts a cavity can be formed inside the actuator.A pulsed-DC power supply was adopted to generate the arc plasma between the electrodes,through which the gas inside was heated and expanded from the orifice.Discharge parameters such as voltage and current were recorded,respectively,by voltage and current probes.The schlieren system was used for flow visualization,and jet velocities with different discharge parameters were measured.The schlieren images showed that the strength of plasma jets in a series of pulses varies from each other.Through velocity measurement,it is found that at a fixed frequency,the jet velocity hardly increases when the discharge voltage ranges from 16 kV to 20 kV.However,with the discharge voltage fixed,the jet velocity suddenly decreases when the pulse frequency rises above 500 Hz,whereas at other testing frequencies no such decrease was observed.The maximum jet velocity measured in the experiment was up to110 m/s,which is believed to be effective for high-speed flow control.     

Study of generation characteristics of glow-type atmospheric-pressure plasma jet based on DC discharge in air

In order to form an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet without airflow, a needle–ring electrode structure is proposed in this paper. When heteropolar potentials are applied to a needle and a ring, a marked electric field strength enhancement around the needle's pointed end has been found. When the same potential is applied to both the needle and the ring, the lateral electric field strength for the needle can be weakened. By using the above two methods, an increase of the difference between the pointed end electric field strength and the lateral one is achieved and stable plasma jets are formed. A symmetrical space electric field distribution is established at the pointed end of the needles when several sets of heteropolar needle–ring electrodes are uniformly arranged, which is conducive to forming a uniform array plasma jet. Under DC discharge conditions, a safe and stable plasma jet of high density and an array plasma jet are successfully achieved.     

Static properties and moisture content properties of polyester fabrics modified by plasma treatment and chemical finishing

Low temperature plasma treatment has been conducted in textile industry and has some success in the dyeing and finishing processes. In this paper, an attempt was made to apply low temperature plasma treatment to improve the anti-static property of polyester fabric. The polyester fabrics were treated under different conditions using low temperature plasma. An Orthogonal Array Testing Strategy was employed to determine the optimum treatment condition. After low temperature plasma treatment, the polyester fabrics were evaluated with different characterisation methods. Under the observation of scanning electron microscope, the surface structure of low temperature plasma-treated polyester fabric was seriously altered. This provided more capacity for polyester to capture moisture and hence increase the dissipation of static charges. The relationship between moisture content and half-life decay time for static charges was studied and the results showed that the increment of moisture content would result in shortening the time for the dissipation of static charges. Moreover, there was a great improvement in the anti-static property of the low temperature plasma-treated polyester fabric after comparing with that of the polyester fabric treated with commercial anti-static finishing agent.     

Ultra-violet protection and water repellency of polyester fabrics treated by surface deposition of nickel under the effect of low temperature plasma

This paper is aimed at understanding the textile properties of nickel-deposited polyester fabric after treating with low temperature plasma treatment. Low temperature plasma treatment with oxygen gas was employed in this paper to activate a hydrophilic surface for the polyester fabrics and hence facilitate the nickel deposition through an electroless plating process. The textile properties of plasma-induced electroless nickel-plated polyester fabrics were evaluated by different standard testing methods in terms of both physical and chemical performances. The electroless nickel plating with plasma treatment improved significantly the performance of nickel-plated polyester fabrics as reflected by the scanning electron microscopy, tensile strength, ultraviolet protection as well as fabric weight. On the contrary, it also enhanced the fabric thickness and colour fastness to crocking. In addition, there was no influence on the performance of colour fastness to light and colourfastness to laundering. Moreover, the application of plasma treatment adversely affected slightly the performance of contact angle and wrinkle recovery property.     

Radiochemical synthesis of silver nanoparticles onto textile fabrics and their antibacterial activity

This paper presents a new technique for synthesizing silver nanoparticles immobilized on textile fabrics using a radiochemical process. In this process, the irradiation of a high-energy electron beam on an aqueous solution containing silver ions induces a reducing reaction that forms metallic silver nanoparticles. Small Ag particles of about 2–4 nm were observed together with relatively large particles of more than 10 nm. These nanoparticles are firmly immobilized on the surface of a support textile fabric without the need for any binder or surfactant. The amount of silver nanoparticles immobilized was found to depend on the water content of the support textile fabric, suggesting that the silver ions are reduced not only by radiochemical species generated by the radiolysis of water, but also by radiochemical species generated in the irradiated support fabric itself. The silver nanoparticles that were immobilized on the support textile fabric exhibited an excellent antibacterial activity across a wide antibacterial spectrum, even after a durability test involving washing the fabric 100 times.     

Plasma Modified Polypropylene Membranes as the Lithium-Ion Battery Separators

To reduce the thermal shrinkage of the polymeric separators and improve the safety of the Li-ion batteries,plasma treatment and plasma enhanced vapor chemical deposition（PECVD）of SiO_x-like are carried out on polypropylene（PP）separators,respectively.Critical parameters for separator properties,such as the thermal shrinkage rate,porosity,wettability,and mechanical strength,are evaluated on the plasma treated PP membranes.O₂ plasma treatment is found to remarkably improve the wettability,porosity and electrolyte uptake.PECVD SiO_x-like coatings are found to be able to effectively reduce the thermal shrinkage rate of the membranes and increase the ionic conductivity.The electrolyte-philicity of the Si Ox-like coating surface can be tuned by the varying O₂ content in the gas mixture during the deposition.Though still acceptable,the mechanical strength is reduced after PECVD,which is due to the plasma etching.     

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet in Ar and O2/Ar Mixtures： Properties and High Performance for Surface Cleaning＊

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet generated in Ar and O2/Ar mixtures has been investigated by specially designed equipment with double power electrodes at 20~32 kHz, and their effects on the cleaning of surfaces have been studied. Properties of the jet discharge are studied by electrical diagnostics, including the waveform of discharge voltage, discharge current and the Q-V Lissajous figures. The optical emission spectroscopy is used to measure the plasma parameters, such as the excitation temperature and the gas temperature. It is found that the consumed power and the excitation temperature increase with increase of the discharge frequency. On the other hand, at the same discharge frequency, these parameters in O2/Ar mixture plasma are found to be much larger. The effect on surface cleaning is studied from the changes in the contact angle. For Ar plasma jet, the contact angle decreases with increase of the discharge frequency. For O2/Ar mixture plasma jet, the contact angle decreases with increase of discharge frequency up to 26 kHz, however, further increase of discharge frequency does not show further decrease in the contact angle. At the same discharge frequency, the contact angle after O2/Ar mixture plasma cleaning is found to be much lower compared to the case of pure Ar. From the results of quadrupole mass-spectrum analysis, we can identify more fragment molecules of CO and H2O in the emitted gases after O2/Ar plasma jet treatment compared with Ar plasma jet treatment, which are produced by the decomposition of surface organic contaminants during the cleaning process.     

The effect of atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasma treatment on the dyeing properties of silk fabric

In this study, the effects of plasma treatment parameters on surface morphology, chemical constituent, dyeability and color fastness of silk fabric were investigated. Atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasma generated with different applied voltages(0 kV to 45 kV) was used to treat the surface of silk fabrics. C I Natural Yellow 3 was used to dye untreated and plasmatreated silk fabrics. The physical analysis based on scanning electron microscopy showed that the surface of silk fabrics was affected by plasma treatment. The chemical analysis was investigated with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the content of C 1s decreased with the increasing applied voltage, the content of N 1s and O 1s increased with the increasing applied voltage. The increasing K/S values represented that the dyeability of silk fabrics was improved after plasma treatment. The color fastness to dry and wet rubbing was decreased after plasma treatment.     

Study on an Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet and its Application in Etching Photo-Resistant Materials

An atmospheric pressure radio-frequency plasma jet that can eject cold plasma has been developed. In this paper, the configuration of this type of plasma jet is illustrated and its discharge characteristics curves are studied with a current and a voltage probe. A thermal couple is used to measure the temperature distribution along the axis of the jet stream. The temperature distribution curve is generated for the He/O2 jet stream at the discharge power of 150 W. This jet can etch the photo-resistant material at an average rate of 100 nm/min on the surface of silicon wafers at a right angle.     

A low power 50 Hz argon plasma for surface modification of polytetrafluoroethylene

The characteristics of a low power 50 Hz argon plasma for surface treatment of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film is presented in this article. The current–voltage behavior of the discharge and time-varying intensity of the discharge showed that a DC glow discharge was generated in reversed polarity at every half-cycle. At discharge power between 0.5 and 1 W, the measured electron temperature and density were 2–3 eV and ∼10⁸ cm⁻³, respectively. The optical emission spectrum of the argon plasma showed presence of some 'impurity species' such as OH, N₂ and H, which presumably originated from the residual air in the discharge chamber. On exposure of PTFE films to the argon glow plasma at pressure 120 Pa and discharge power 0.5 to 1 W, the water contact angle reduced by 4% to 20% from the original 114° at pristine condition, which confirms improvement of its surface wettability. The increase in wettability was attributed to incorporation of oxygen-containing functional groups on the treated surface and concomitant reduction in fluorine as revealed by the XPS analysis and increase in surface roughness analyzed from the atomic force micrographs. Ageing upon storage in ambient air showed retention of the induced increase in surface wettability.     

Hydrophobicity changes of polluted silicone rubber introduced by spatial and dose distribution of plasma jet

The hydrophobicity of polluted silicone rubber was improved rapidly under plasma jet treatment. It is an important phenomenon of the interaction between the plasma jet and the porous surface, and shows a wide application prospect in the power system. In this process, the spatial characteristics and dose of plasma jet are very important. Therefore, the variation of hydrophobicity of polluted silicone rubber under plasma jet treatment was studied, and the spatial characteristics and dose of plasma jet on polluted silicone rubber were also investigated in the work. The results show that the surface property (hydrophilic or hydrophobic) depended on the dose of plasma applied to the surface. The effective treated area was a circle, and the contact angles changed along the radial direction of the circle. This was attributable to the diffusion of plasma bullets on the surface and the distribution of plasma species. The plasma dose could be characterized by the energy density of the plasma applied on the surface. With the increase of plasma dose, the surface contact angles first increased rapidly and then decreased gradually.     

Effect of Low-Pressure Nitrogen DC Plasma Treatment on the Surface Properties of Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene, Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) and Polyvinyl Chloride Films

In this study, commercial biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films were treated with nitrogen plasma over different exposure times in a Pyrex tube surrounded by a DC variable magnetic field. The chemical changes that appeared on the surface of the samples were investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR- FTIR) spectroscopy after treatment for 2 min, 4 min and 6 min in a nitrogen plasma chamber. Effects of the plasma treatment on the surface topographies and contact angles of the untreated and plasma treated films were also analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and a contact angle measuring system. The results show that the plasma treated films become more hydrophilic with an enhanced wettability due to the formation of some new polar groups on the surface of the treated films. Moreover, at higher exposure times, the total surface energy in all treated films increased while a reduction in contact angle occurred. The behavior of surface roughness in each sample was completely different at higher exposure times.     

Influences of the cold atmospheric plasma jet treatment on the properties of the demineralized dentin surfaces

Improvement of the bonding strength and durability between the dentin surface and the composite resin is a challenging job in dentistry. In this paper, a radio-frequency atmosphericpressure glow discharge(RF-APGD) plasma jet is employed for the treatment of the acid-etched dentin surfaces used for the composite restoration. The properties of the plasma treated dentin surfaces and the resin–dentin interfaces are analyzed using the x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, contact angle goniometer, scanning electron microscope and microtensile tester.The experimental results show that, due to the abundant chemically reactive species existing in the RF-APGD plasma jet under a stable and low energy input operating mode, the contact angle of the plasma-treated dentin surfaces decreases to a stable level with the increase of the atomic percentage of oxygen in the specimens; the formation of the long resin tags in the scattered clusters and the hybrid layers at the resin–dentin interfaces significantly improve the bonding strength and durability. These results indicate that the RF-APGD plasma jet is an effective tool for modifying the chemical properties of the dentin surfaces, and for improving the immediate bonding strength and the durability of the resin-dentin bonding in dentistry.     

Investigation of optimum discharge characteristics and chemical activity of AC driven air plasma jet and its anticancer effect

In this study,we investigated the effects of the quartz tube diameter,air flow rate,and applied voltage on the characteristics of an air plasma jet to obtain the optimized discharge characteristics.The physicochemical properties and concentration of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species(RONS)in plasma-activated medium(PAM)were characterized to explore their chemical activity.Furthermore,we investigated the inactivation effect of air plasma jet on tumour cells and their corresponding inactivation mechanism.The results show that the tube diameter plays an important role in sustaining the voltage of the air plasma jet,and the gas flow rate affects the jet length and discharge intensity.Additionally,the air plasma jet discharge displays two modes,namely,ozone and nitrogen oxide modes at high and low gas flow rates,respectively.Increasing the voltage increases the concentration of reactive species and the length of discharge.By evaluating the viability of A549 cells under different parameters,the optimal treatment conditions were determined to be a quartz tube diameter of 4 mm,gas flow rate of 0.5 SLM,and voltage of 18 kV.Furthermore,an air plasma jet under the optimized conditions effectively enhanced the chemical activity in PAM and produced more aqueous RONS.The air plasma jet induced significant cytotoxicity in A549 cancer cells after plasma treatment.H2O2 and NO2 are regarded as key factors in promoting cell inactivation.The present study demonstrates the potential use of tumour cell therapy by atmospheric air PAM,which aids a better understanding of plasma liquid chemistry.     

60Co放射源照射装置研制及辐射场测量

60Co源照射装置是产生参考辐射场的重要设备,根据国家标准的要求,参考辐射场中散射剂量率不应大于总剂量率的5％.参考辐射场中的散射辐射贡献和均匀性是描述60Co源照射装置辐射性能的重要参数,利用蒙特卡罗方法对60Co源照射装置产生辐射场的散射辐射和均匀性进行研究,为60Co源照射装置的设计提供了理论依据.待照射装置加工完成后,利用PTW电离室对辐射场进行测量.结果表明,辐射场中散射辐射和均匀性与模拟结果符合较好,辐射特性满足设计要求.     

Plasma jet array treatment to improve the hydrophobicity of contaminated HTV silicone rubber

An atmospheric-pressure plasma jet array specially designed for HTV silicone rubber treatment is reported in this paper. Stable plasma containing highly energetic active particles was uniformly generated in the plasma jet array. The discharge pattern was affected by the applied voltage. The divergence phenomenon was observed at low gas flow rate and abated when the flow rate increased.Temperature of the plasma plume is close to room temperature which makes it feasible for temperature-sensitive material treatment. Hydrophobicity of contaminated HTV silicone rubber was significantly improved after quick exposure of the plasma jet array, and the effective treatment area reached 120 mm?×?50 mm(length?×?width). Reactive particles in the plasma accelerate accumulation of the hydrophobic molecules, namely low molecular weight silicone chains, on the contaminated surface, which result in a hydrophobicity improvement of the HTV silicone rubber.     

Electrical and aerodynamic characteristics of sliding discharge based on a microsecond pulsed plasma supply

Plasma flow control technology has broad prospects for application. Compared with conventional dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators (DBD-PA), the sliding discharge plasma actuator (SD-PA) has the advantages of a large discharge area and a deflectable induced jet. To achieve the basic performance requirements of light weight, low cost, and high reliability required for UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) plasma flight experiments, this work designed a microsecond pulse plasma supply that can be used for sliding discharge plasma actuators. In this study, the topology of the primary circuit of the microsecond pulse supply is determined, the waveform of the output terminal of the microsecond pulse plasma supply is detected using the Simulink simulation platform, and the design of the actuation voltage, the pulse frequency modulation function and the construction of the hardware circuit are achieved. Using electrical diagnosis and flow field analysis, the actuation characteristics and flow characteristics of sliding discharge plasma under microsecond pulse actuation are studied, the optimal electrical actuation parameters and flow field characteristics are described.