Shunting arc-produced hybrid plasma and its magnetic drive for PBII&D

Hybrid plasmas produced by shunting arc discharge are described in this article. The shunting arc was generated in various ambient atmospheres. When a carbon-shunting arc was generated in a nitrogen atmosphere, the carbon ion species were produced at the arc stage, the electrons of which accelerated toward the wall, colliding with the gas species in the chamber to produce nitrogen ions. When the arc was generated in a methane atmosphere, the hydrogen content in the deposited carbon film changed with the gas pressure. When the arc was generated in gaseous RF plasma, an enhancement in the plasma density was confirmed with ion current measurement. Another method of the shunting arc application is the usage of the Lorentz force, which accelerates the entire plasma body toward the target. This results in a fast deposition of the plasma species such as carbon.     

Ar/O2 gas pressure dependences of a pulsed zirconium arc and extracted ion characteristics

A pulsed dc zirconium arc discharge is generated in an argon diluted oxygen gas by separating a pin electrode as an anode from the cathode. The arc is transiently generated, and its life time is approximately 3 ms for a series resistance of 1 Ω and a dc output of 33 V. The life is prolonged and the plasma becomes stable with increasing the arc current. A target with a diameter of 100 mm is set at 150 mm from the arc source, and is immersed in the plasma. A pulse voltage is applied to the target to extract ions from the plasma. The ion current is not detected after approximately 8 ms since the plasma initiation. When the plasma is generated in oxygen without argon, the plasma generation time is scattered, and the plasma is unstable. An ion density is estimated from the temporal behavior of the target voltage in the recovery region after the pulse voltage. The ion density at the target is approximately 2.5 × 10¹⁵ m^− 3 at a mixed gas pressure of 1.9 Pa, which corresponds to the plasma density of 1.1 × 10¹⁷ m^− 3 under an assumption of electron temperature of 1 eV.     

Phenomena in GTA and GHTA welding in Mars-like atmosphere

NASA is advancing the project of manned Mars exploration. In the future, Martian outposts and structures will be constructed. To realize this, welding technology is expected to be applied. The main atmospheric component of Mars is carbon dioxide, and the atmospheric pressure is approximately 700 Pa. In this study, welding experiments were carried out in a simulated Mars atmosphere of 99.5% carbon dioxide and a pressure of 700 Pa. Conventional gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding and gas hollow tungsten arc (GHTA) welding, in which arc operating gas is allowed only to flow out from the electrode tip of a hollow tungsten electrode, were investigated. The arc discharge behaviour and the melting characteristics in the simulated Mars atmosphere were studied. As a result, it was shown that GTA welding and GHTA welding might be applicable even in the Mars atmosphere.     

Characterization of pulsed discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure

The production of hydrogen and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by the decomposition of methane inside the reactor using pulsed discharge plasma under conditions of room temperature and atmospheric pressure was investigated and characterized. The development of dissociation of methane with corona discharge under several conditions had been observed. We have noticed that the key radicals such as CH₃ and H produced by pulse corona plasma from source gas, will undergo chain reaction leading to efficient formation of hydrogen gas as well. We have found the external diameter and resistivity of CNTs around 50 nm and 0.15 Ω cm respectively. The main results obtained from the present experiments could be quite useful for the production of hydrogen, CNTs, and future industrial applications.     

Investigation of tungsten dc vacuum arc characteristics. Technological application

The paper presents the results of investigation of legitimacies of generation of W vacuum arc plasma in dc mode and their application for deposition of coatings with high adhesion strength.The developed construction of the vacuum arc evaporator (VAE) ensures dc mode of W plasma generation in the current range of 350 A-750 A at arc voltage drop of more than 40 V. It is shown that at discharge current of 750 A W coating deposition rate can achieve 80 μm/h, which offers attractive perspectives for a number of technological applications of W plasma.We also investigated some legitimacies of changes in element composition, adhesion strength, hardness, morphology and structure of W coatings formed from plasma of a dc vacuum arc discharge (VAD) depending on regimes of coating deposition. It is shown that use of Ti plasma for creating a thick transition and damping layer under the regime of plasma immersion ion implantation and coating deposition under intensive ion mixing allows to increase adhesion strength of W coatings by several times.     

Ion extraction from magnetically driven shunting arc and estimation of ion density at sheath boundary

Ion density of a magnetically driven shunting arc discharge is estimated from the target voltage characteristics of the pulse modulator circuit in plasma-based ion implantation (PBII). The voltage recovery time constant directly reflects the ion sheath characteristics, and the sheath resistance is related to the ion density inside the transient sheath. The measured characteristics are analyzed using an equivalent circuit of the pulse modulator in PBII. The estimated ion density decreases from 3 × 10⁸ to 4 × 10⁷ cm^− 3 with time after the arc ignition from 100 to 400 μs. This characteristic almost agrees with that of an ion current extracted from the arc plasma by applying a negative pulse voltage to the target.     

Duplex treatment of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel using rf nitriding and dc reactive magnetron sputtering of titanium

In this work, duplex treatment has been carried out using radio frequency (rf) plasma nitriding process and direct current (dc) magnetron sputtering of titanium. Nitriding of AISI 304 stainless steel, using rf plasma technique, created a thick modified layer of approximately 20 μm for short plasma processing time of 10 min. After nitriding process, a thin titanium nitride film has been deposited using dc magnetron sputtering of titanium for different nitrogen/argon gas pressure ratios. The treated samples were characterized via glow discharge optical spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, profile meter and Vickers microhardness tester. The elemental composition, thickness and microhardness values of the duplex treated layers are found to be gas composition dependent. The data shows that the microhardness of the duplex treated layer increases to 1.42 fold relative to the associate value of the nitrided one. Moreover, high deposition rate of 110 nm/min is obtained.     

工艺参数对空心阴极真空电弧电子温度影响

为了研究空心阴极真空电弧等离子体特性,通过光谱仪获得了空心阴极真空电弧的发射光谱分布,同时利用相对强度法计算了电子激发温度.结果表明,空心阴极真空电弧等离子体主要由氩离子、氩原子构成;随着放电气压的降低和焊接电流的增加,空心阴极真空电弧的离子浓度逐渐增加;在一定气体流量下,空心阴极真空电弧的电子激发温度随着焊接电流的增加而升高;在低气体流量、大焊接电流时,电子激发温度较高;随着放电气压的升高,空心阴极真空电弧的电子激发温度逐渐降低.当焊接电流较大和气体流量较低时,空心阴极真空电弧的轴线附近的氩离子谱线强度较高,并且其径向分布梯度较大.     

Ni–C powder synthesis by a submerged pulsed arc in breakdown mode

Powders of Ni–C nanoparticles were synthesized using a pulsed arc between Ni electrodes submerged in pure ethanol. The arc was ignited by inter-electrode breakdown. The ethanol was arc treated for 5 min with 1 μs duration pulses, at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The pulse energy was in a range of 0.01–0.05 J. Powder samples were obtained by extracting liquid from the treatment vessel after a pre-determined sedimentation time, or by allowing the liquid to evaporate from the vessel, and collecting the residue. The samples were examined by HRSEM, EDX and XRD.It was found that a powder of Ni–C nanoparticles was produced. The powder consisted of carbon particles and nickel–carbon alloy particles. The latter were also coated by carbon. The carbon concentration in the Ni alloy was approximately triple of the maximum equilibrium solid solubility of carbon in nickel. The production rate of carbon was greater than the erosion rate of the Ni electrodes by factors of 2–6. The ratio of carbon production rate to electrode erosion rate decreased with the discharge energy. The size distribution of the produced particles was narrow. No particles with diameter more than 0.7 μm were observed.     

一种新型堆焊热源——碳极氩气拘束电弧

从降低堆焊稀释率和硬质合金烧损率，提高堆焊熔敷率的角度出发，用电弧等离子体光谱多线诊断装置对碳极氩气拘束电弧物理特性进行了测试，将测得的谱线光强信号经光电倍增管作光电转换与放大，然后将转换后的电信号输入A/D装置，变成数字量后，输入微机处理，以获得温度，成分，压力及其分布，结果发现，碳极氩气拘束电弧温度比自由碳极电弧温度高，电弧气氛具有一定的还原性，电弧温度，压力分布均匀，上述特点有利于提高堆焊质量。     

加氮对直流电弧等离子体喷射金刚石膜显微组织和断裂强度的影响

利用DcArcP1asmaJetcVD法制备搀杂氮的金刚石厚膜。研究了在反应气体cH。／Ar／H：中加入N!对金刚石膜显微组织和力学性能的影响。在固定H2、Ar、CH4流量的情况下改变N2的流量，即反应气体中氮原子和碳原子的变化比例(N／C比，范围从0．06～0．68)，同时在固定的腔体压力(4kPa)和衬底温度(800℃)下进行金刚石膜生长。用扫描电镜(SEM)观察金刚石膜形貌、用X射线衍射表征晶体取向，用三点弯曲的方法来测量金刚石膜的断裂强度。结果表明，氮气在反应气体中的大量加入，对直流等离子体喷射制备金刚石膜的显微组织和力学性能有显著的影响。     

Structure and properties of cathodic vacuum arc deposited NbN and NbN-based multi-component and multi-layer coatings

Binary Nb-N coatings, ternary Ti-Nb-N and Zr-Nb-N, and multi-layer TiN/NbN coatings consisting of up to 100 alternating TiN and NbN layers, were deposited onto WC-Co substrates, using two different vacuum arc deposition (VAD) systems: with and without magnetic guiding of the metal plasma flow. Binary Nb-N coatings were fabricated by deposition of metal plasma produced by a Nb cathode in a background of reactive nitrogen gas at different pressures, P. Ternary coatings were fabricated at co-deposition of plasmas originating from two different cathode materials. Multilayer coatings were fabricated by alternatively depositing plasmas of Ti and Nb in reactive nitrogen gas. The crystalline coating structure, phase composition, hardness and critical load for coating failure were studied.For binary Nb-N coatings fabricated using both deposition systems, the phase composition, the Vickers hardness, HV, and the critical load strongly depended on the deposition pressure. Using VAD with magnetic plasma guiding, the highest HV of ∼ 42 GPa was measured for coatings deposited at low nitrogen pressure. These coatings contained a hexagonal β-Nb₂N phase and had a relatively low critical load. The highest critical load and HV ∼ 38 GPa were obtained for coatings consisted of a single phase NaCl-type cubic δ-NbN structure, deposited at a higher nitrogen pressure. The structure and properties of Nb-N coatings deposited using VAD without magnetic plasma guiding had a similar correlation with the deposition pressure, however, their hardness values were lower.Ternary Ti-Nb-N and Zr-Nb-N coatings fabricated by both deposition processes had a single phase cubic NaCl-type structure and the hardness higher than that of the binary nitrides TiN, ZrN and NbN. The hardest coatings, HV ∼ 51.5 Pa, deposited with magnetic plasma guiding had a single-phase cubic δ-(Ti,Nb)N structure and a Ti:Nb ratio of ∼ 50:50 (at.%).Multilayer coatings TiN/NbN consisting of 20-40 alternating TiN and NbN layers with total thickness of 4-5 μm increased the life time of cemented carbide cutting inserts at turning tough Ni-base alloys by 2-7 times relative to uncoated cutting tools, while conventional vacuum arc deposited TiN coatings were not effective in machining of these alloys.     

Hall stratum filtered cathodic arc source for carbon plasma

A novel filtered cathodic vacuum arc source of carbon plasma, in which plasma ions are reflected from a Hall stratum formed in the inter-electrode gap, was studied. The plasma source consisted of a rectangular carbon cathode, positioned between the poles of a permanent magnet, a copper anode, and a triggering mechanism. An arc was operated with current pulses having a duration of 7 ms and a peak current of 200 A.It was shown that the cathode spot plasma jets were reflected from the Hall stratum formed in the arched magnetic field, and bent through 180° towards substrates positioned alongside of the cathode, while macroparticles flew from the cathode spots in straight trajectories. The calculated thickness of the Hall stratum ranged from less than 1 mm to ≥ 10 mm. The ratio of the substrate ion current to the arc current was ∼ 7.5%, which is much larger than that of most known filtered systems, and approaches the plasma transfer efficiency of unfiltered vacuum arc plasma sources.     

空心阴极真空电弧焊接的引弧机理

空心阴极真空电弧焊接（Hollow Cathode Vacuum Arc Welding,HCVAW)技术是一项新型、独特的技术,在航空,航天等工业部门有着巨大的应用潜力,本文介绍了空心阴极真空电弧焊接技术的特点及其放电机理,讨论了低气压下空心阴极电弧放电与常规电弧和电的不同特点,根据电离气体中性化条件,初步探讨了在低气压下空心阴极电弧放电的引弧过程,分析了影响低气压下空心阴极电弧放电引弧电压的因素。     

Deposition of nanocomposite thin films by a hybrid cathodic arc and chemical vapour technique

A hybrid technique is described for the synthesis of nanocomposite Ti-Si-N thin films based on the reactive deposition of Ti produced from a cathodic arc source and silicon from a liquid tetramethylsilane (TMS), precursor. The influence of the TMS flow rate on the structure and mechanical properties has been investigated. The film structure was found to comprise TiN crystallites and amorphous Si₃N₄. The X-ray diffraction data showed that with increasing TMS flow there is a decrease in the TiN crystalline size from 33 nm to 4 nm. The hardness of the films was found to be strongly dependent on the Si content and reached a maximum value of 41 GPa at ∼ 5% Si content at a total pressure of nitrogen and TMS of 0.8 Pa. Hardness enhancement was found to arise from the nanostructural change induced due to the addition of an amorphous Si₃N₄ phase into the film. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed the structure of the Ti-Si-N composites.     

Arc force and shapes with high-frequency pulsed-arc welding

Arc plasma is the source of heat and force for molten pool with dynamics fluid and convections. The arc force is studied with shape surveillance and force measurement during pulsed welding process. The results indicated that the average force increased by 42–57%. And the pressures were 322?Pa (conventional welding), 409 Pa and 517?Pa (pulsed welding). Imaging process is carried out for energy distribution analysis. The core region ratio increased up to 51%, compared with 43.7% by conventional welding. The arc pressure derivation was produced and the error was discussed. The increased arc force happens with arc constriction during pulsed welding. It is supposed to create surface depression of molten pool, enhance the fluidity and improve the heat convections.     

Arc behaviour and weld formation in gas focusing plasma arc welding

ABSTRACT

Improving penetrability is a key issue in plasma arc welding (PAW). Increasing plasma energy is one way to improve arc penetrability. Gas focusing plasma arc welding (GF-PAW) platform is self-designed and developed. Role and action mechanism of focusing gas is initially studied. Focusing gas makes no obvious effects on arc pressure distribution and value. Focusing gas changes arc temperature distribution outer orifice, while focusing gas does not affect arc temperature distribution inner orifice. Focusing gas can constrict arc and arc energy increases 210?W with an increase in arc voltage of 1.4?V. GF-PAW can fully penetrate the whole work-piece while PAW can only partially penetrate the work-piece under welding current 150?A. GF-PAW can improve penetrability, and may increase welding speed, and has a potential application in manufacturing.     

变极性等离子电弧压力的影响因素分析

利用U形压力计测试了不同工艺参数条件下的变极性等离子焊接的电弧压力,利用正交试验测试了不同正极性电流、反极性电流、正反极性时间比和等离子气流量四种参数条件下的电弧压力.结果表明,电弧压力随着这些因素的增加而增加,而四种因素对电弧压力影响的大小依次为:等离子气流量>正极性电流>正反极性时间比>反极性电流.分析原因,等离子气流量是通过冷却压缩提高电弧压力,压缩了电弧尺寸,而焊接电流则通过电磁压缩,但也提高了电弧半径.由于正反极性阶段电弧压力的差异较为明显.因此正反极性时间比对电弧压力也有显著的作用.

Abstract：

VPPA pressure was measured at different welding parameters by U-tube barometer method. The effects of different welding conditions on arc force, including straight polarity current, reverse polarity current, time ratio, plasma gas flow rate were analyzed by the orthogonal experiment. The results indicates that VPPA pressure increased with these four parameters, and the influences of the welding parameters are in order of plasma gas flow rate, straight polarity current, time ratio, and reverse polarity current. Then the mechanisms were discussed. The plasma gas can cool and compress the arc column and compress the arc radius, which increases the VPPA pressure; while the welding current increases the arc radius by electromagnetic compression, which enhances the VPPA pressure. Moreover, due to the great difference of VPPA pressure between straight polarity phase and reverse polarity phase, time ratio is also one of key factors to VPPA pressure.     

Pressure effects on HiPIMS deposition of hafnium films

High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) was studied during the growth of hafnium films at argon pressures ranging from 0.80 to 5.33 Pa with a fixed pulse length (50 μs) and frequency (200 Hz). The effect of inert gas pressure on the plasma conditions and film structure was investigated. The peak target current increased with pressure, but its sensitivity decreased above 2.00 Pa, which corresponded to an increased ratio of ions to neutrals in the plasma. A comparison of plasma characteristics between Hf and Ti HiPIMS growth was made. In addition to pressure, the target currents were affected by the physical properties of the target material, particularly the secondary ionization energy and atomic mass. Sputtering gas rarefaction phenomena were found to be more pronounced for Hf, and as a result, the process characteristics and film properties had a strong interdependence on argon pressure discussed in this study. The microstructure of the hafnium films was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. When compared to Hf films deposited by dc magnetron sputtering, the HiPIMS process resulted in a decreased grain size and promoted the growth of the (100) orientation in the Hf films. These results demonstrate that Hf HiPIMS sputtering regimes have much stronger dependence on the working gas pressure compared to titanium, and these need to be taken into account to ensure that films are dense and have the desired morphology and crystallographic orientation.     

低功率激光-双电弧焊接钛合金中厚板工艺及机理

采用单钨极惰性气体保护焊(single tungsten inert gas welding,STIG焊)、双钨极惰性气体保护焊(double tungsten inert gas welding,DTIG焊)、激光-STIG电弧(L-STIG)复合焊和激光-DTIG电弧(L-DTIG)复合焊4种方式对6 mm 厚TA2钛合金进行对接焊试验,实现单面焊双面成形. 结果表明,L-DTIG复合焊的电弧能量更为集中,焊接速度可达680 mm/min. L-DTIG复合焊的热输入为605.5 J/mm,仅是DTIG焊的35.5%和L-STIG复合焊的59.0%. L-DTIG复合焊接头的焊缝区晶粒细小,显微硬度可达229.5 HV. 拉伸试样在母材处断裂,接头抗拉强度优于母材. 加入激光后,L-DTIG复合焊的电弧等离子体中心导电区在xOz和yOz平面电弧分别收缩51.0%,45.5%,电弧根部收缩75.0%. 测得L-DTIG复合焊热源在工件上的电弧压力为3 465 Pa,分别是DTIG焊和L-STIG复合焊的4.17和2.25倍. 较高的电弧收缩比和电弧压力可显著提高焊接效率,降低焊接热输入.