| AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session PS+PB+SE-TuA |
| Session: | Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas |
| Presenter: | Francois Reniers, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| Authors: | A. Ozkan, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium D. Merche, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium F. Reniers, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Cold atmospheric plasma are widely used for surface activation in many applications. Today, many technologies are available, such as coronas, dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs), remote (or post-discharge) DBDs, torches, operating in the radiofrequency mode, gliding arcs, ……. A wide variety of operating conditions can be found in the literature or on the websites of the manufacturers : AC, DC, kHz range, noble gas or air, high or low power, ….. For the scientist, the lab manager, or the CTO of a company looking for a new, clean, activation technique, the vast list of possibilities, although representing opportunities, may represent a challenge. In this paper, we try to set up a product driven roadmap to help the scientist making the best choice for the plasma technology to implement for his application. Through a few selected examples, all tested in our laboratory equipped with 7 different plasma technologies and 15 reactors, we show which is the best technology for the application of interest. Advantages and drawbacks of each of the tested technologies with respect of the material, the energy consumption, and the time and cost of operation are presented, and discussed in terms of plasma and surface characterization.
The applications chosen addresses a wide range of questions such as:
- which plasma to chose to clean and activate glass substrates (a comparison between torches and in-situ DBDs is proposed)
- atmospheric plasma to grow an oxide layer on aluminium : a comparison between an air operated torch and plasma electrolytic oxidation
- how to activate a macroscopic 3D pre-painted metal piece for further painting using an atmospheric plasma torch. A comparison between 4 torches is presented
- how to activate the surface of selected polymers using DBD, RF torches with different gases
- how to activate surfaces (silicon, polymers, nanotubes) for further grafting of metal nanoparticles
- how to modify PTFE using a torch, what are the side effects, and why.
These examples will be starting points for a more general discussion about methodology, based on the final expectations and the chemistry and physics of each technology.