Surface treatment of metals in the plasma of a nanosecond diffuse discharge at atmospheric pressure

Abstract: The paper presents experimental results on surface treatment of metals in the plasma of a runaway electron preionized diffuse discharge (REP DD) in atmospheric pressure nitrogen. The parameters under study are the elemental composition, the nanohardness, the surface free energy (SFE) and the surface roughness of metals before and after plasma treatment. The study shows that REP DD plasma treatment with 10⁵ discharge pulses provides ultrafine surface cleaning of the treated metals from carbon and increases their surface free energy up to 3 times, whereas the surface nanohardness and roughness of the treated metals remain almost unchanged. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].