| AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Monday Sessions |
| Session PS1+SE-MoM |
| Session: | Atmospheric-Pressure Plasmas |
| Presenter: | Zachary Jeckell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Authors: | Z. Jeckell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign D. Patel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign T. Choi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign M. Schmid, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign L. Bónová, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign D.E. Barlaz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign D.N. Ruzic, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I.A. Shchelkanov, Starfire Industries LLC B.E. Jurczyk, Starfire Industries LLC |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Lightweight manufacturing, specifically the bonding of dissimilar metals is gaining traction lately as the automobile industry looks for new ways to reduce the weight of their vehicles without compromising the safety or performance. However, current technologies such as spot welding can either be difficult, as is the case for aluminum and magnesium, or impossible as is the case for carbon fiber reinforced polymers. The Center for Plasma Material Interactions (CPMI) has developed a scalable method for performing atmospheric plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (AP-CVD) using a 2.45 GHz microwave power supply and a torch design that allows for inline precursor delivery to the plasma. Atmospheric plasmas offer unique advantages for manufacturing, such as the potential to be directly integrated into an assembly line, as well as the ability to deposit on complex geometries. This research investigates the feasibility of depositing SiO2, using hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) as the chemical precursor, onto materials commonly used in lightweight manufacturing and then applying an automotive adhesive to bond the materials together. The silica layer is intended to function as both an adhesion promoter as well as a water barrier coating. The composition of the film is verified using XPS, and the film morphology and thickness are observed using cross-sectional SEM to verify that the deposited film is dense and in the range of 10-100 nm. The robustness of these films is determined by adhesion testing following deposition of silica, as well as after water soak testing which are used to simulate prolonged exposure to realistic environments. Preliminary water soak testing on aluminum has shown a decrease in max stress of 2.5% after 168 hours of water soak at 55 ˚C, which is a significant improvement over the 25% benchmark currently used in the automotive industry.