Titanium alloy surface treatment using an atmospheric plasma jet in nitrogen pulsed discharge conditions

This experimental work deals with the surface treatment of TiA6V4 titanium alloy using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet generated by a DBD discharge in nitrogen flow.Firstly, the atmospheric pressure DBD reactor is described and the energy injected into the gap under chopped sinusoidal HV excitation is defined. Then, the influence of several experimental parameters on surface treatment is studied using several macroscopic characterization methods such as wettability with water drops and the ink test method. Results of XPS analysis on the treated samples are finally presented, offering insight into the microscopic modifications inflicted on the metallic surface by the afterglow treatment.Experimental results presented in this work show that these particular conditions of HV excitation seem to be interesting from an application point of view. Based on mainly macroscopic surface diagnostics, it is shown that the electrical energy injected into the DBD reactor, as well as the characteristics (duty cycle) of the HV chopping signal influence the treatment results.