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The active screen plasma nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) technology is a state-of-the-art plasma-assisted heat treatment for improving surface hardness and wear resistance of metallic workpieces based on thermochemical diffusion. In comparison to conventional plasma nitrocarburizing, the use of an active screen (AS) improves thermal homogeinity at the workload and reduces soot formation. Further it can serve as a chemical source for the plasma processes, e.g. by use of an AS made of carbon-fibre reinforced carbon. This compilation of studies investigates the plasma-chemical composition of industrial- and laboratory-scale ASPNC plasmas, predominantly using in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy with lead-salt tuneable diode lasers, external-cavity quantum cascade lasers, and a frequency comb. In this way the temperatures and concentrations of the dominant stable molecular species HCN, NH3, CH4, C2H2, and CO, as well as of less prevelant species, were recorded as functions of e.g. the pressure, the applied plasma power, the total feed gas flow and its composition. Additionally, the diagnostics were applied to a chemically similar plasma-assisted process for diamond deposition.
Resulting from this thesis are new insights into the practical application of an AS made of CFC, the plasma-chemistry involving hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, and the particular role of CO as an indicator for reactor contamination. The effect of the feed gas composition on the resulting nitrogen- and carbon-expanded austenite layers was proven by combination of in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy with post-treatment surface diagnostics. Furthermore this work marks the first use of frequency comb spectroscopy with sub-nominally resolved Michelson interferometry for investigation of a low-pressure molecular discharge. This way the rotational bands of multiple species were simultaneously measured, resulting in temperature information at a precision hitherto not reached in the field of nitrocarburizing plasmas.
The current work is focused on the study of two surface modification plasma processes, (i) the active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) and nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) for the hardening of ferrous surfaces and (ii) the microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (MW-PACVD) for the synthesis of single crystal and doped diamond. Conventional and active screen plasma nitriding processes have been investigated in a cylindrical, industrial scale ASPN reactor with a volume of about 1 m3, using low-pressure pulsed dc H2-N2 plasmas with admixtures of CH4 or CO2. The experiments were carried out (i) with the plasma at an internal model probe, (ii) with the plasma at the active screen (floated model probe) and (iii) with the plasma at the active screen and an additional plasma at the biased model probe. For deeper insights in ASPN and ASPNC processes, a laboratory scale plasma nitriding monitoring reactor, PLANIMOR, has been constructed. The main feature of this reactor is the linear configuration of the electrode setup combined with a tubular glass vessel, overcoming the experimental disadvantages of cylindrical laboratory scale ASPN reactors. With the help of infrared laser absorption spectroscopy (IRLAS) the rotational temperature of the stable molecules in the gas phase and the concentrations of the precursor, CH4, and the reaction products (NH3, HCN, C2H2, C2H4, CO, CH3) could be determined in both reactors, depending on the plasma power, the gas mixture, the plasma at the model probe and the admixture of CH4. Furthermore, the admixture of CO2 as the carbon containing precursor has been studied in the ASPN reactor leading to an additional reaction product H2O. The concentration of the molecular species has been found being in a range of 1012 to 1016 molecules cm-3. Also optical emission spectroscopy (OES) has been applied during the studies for analyzing the emission of the plasmas in the nitriding and nitrocarburizing processes. A similar behavior of the plasma chemistry in PLANIMOR comparing to that in the ASPN reactor has been found. Beside the plasma chemical investigations, both reactors have been used for the treatment of C15 steel samples. These samples have been analyzed with the help of GDOES resulting in the elements profile of the treated surfaces. It has been found that samples treated in PLANIMOR reach comparable nitriding results as samples treated in the ASPN reactor. Another focus of interest during the investigations about plasma nitrocarburizing has been the application of a carbon containing screen electrode as carbon source. For this purpose the carbon containing precursor and the steel screen have been substituted by a meshed carbon electrode, acting as the active screen. This change of the setup leads to a decrease of the NH3 production by a factor of 2.5 and an increase of the concentrations of HCN by a factor of 30 and of C2H2 by a factor of 70. The investigations of MW-PACVD processes used for diamond layer deposition have been carried out in a jacketed stainless steel reactor (JR), dedicated to the deposition of single crystalline diamond under high pressure and plasma power conditions. Using H2-plasmas with admixtures of CH4 and B2H6, the experiments were carried out in order to analyze the dependence of the plasma chemistry on several parameters, such as plasma power, pressure and gas mixture, in a wide pressure (p = 25…270 mbar) and power range (P = 0.6…4 kW). Using IRLAS the concentrations of six molecular species (B2H6, CH4, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, CH3) have been monitored. With the help of OES the concentration of atomic boron could be determined. The concentrations of the detected molecular and atomic species were found to be in a range of 1010 to 1017 cm-3. With the help of the line-ratio-method the rotational temperature of the stable molecules has been determined. The temperature increased with pressure and power from 340 to 425 K. Using the Doppler broadening of the absorption line of CH3 at ν = 612,413 cm-1, the gas temperature has found to be Tg = (2000 ± 200) K under lower pressure and power conditions. For the H2-CH4 gas mixture, the experimental obtained molecular densities have been compared to those of a 1D-radial thermochemical model. The calculated radial densities have been integrated axially. For the same range the chemical processes in JR have been compared with those in a bell-jar (BJ) reactor. The hydrocarbon chemistry in JR has found to be similar to that in a BJ reactor.
In the last decade a new domain has developed in plasma physics: plasma medicine. Despite the successes that have already been achieved in this exciting new field, the interaction of plasmas with “biological materials” is not yet fully understood. Further investigations in particular with respect to the properties of the applied plasmas sources are therefore essential in order to decode this complex interaction process. Currently, a great variety of different discharge types are used in plasma medical investigation which are generally are operated in noble gases like helium and argon or with dry air. In the present work, the main focuses is on the diagnostics of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) resulting from the plasma chemistry of an argon radio-frequency (RF) atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and its interaction with the ambient atmosphere. To conduct this study, a commercially available plasma device, so-called kinpen is used due to its technical development maturity and its accessibility on the market. As a method of choice, diagnostic techniques are based on optical spectroscopy known to be a reliable tool to investigate plasmas. Consequently, three complementary optical laser diagnostics, namely quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy (QCLAS), laser induced fluorescence (LIF) and planar single shot LIF (PLIF), have been successfully applied to the plasma jet itself or its effluent. All of these diagnostics offer a high species selectivity and an excellent spatial and temporal resolution. They are used in this work for i) the characterization of the plasma chemical dynamics with respect to the generation of biological active RONS – in particular for the case of N2 and O2 admixtures. ii) the measurement of the NO density profile in the plasma effluent iii) the investigation of the flow characteristics of the neutral gas component (laminar vs. turbulent) and its influence on the plasma chemistry. Numerical analysis have been carried out in collaboration with PLASMANT (University of Antwerp) via kinetic simulations of the entire plasma chemistry. Expectingly, atomic oxygen (O) and nitric oxide (NO) turn out to be precursors of ozone (O3) and nitric dioxide (NO2). However, it was intriguing to unveil that atomic oxygen and nitrogen metastable (N2(A)) play together a key part --as intermediate species-- in the generation of more stable RONS, e.g. NO. The absolute density of NO space resolved was measured by LIF and absolutely calibrated molecular beam mass spectrometer. LIF was used to determine relative density of OH radical in the plasma plume. 2D-LIF was used to investigate the gas flow pattern with OH as a flow tracer. The results are discussed in details and show different operating mode of the jet, e.g. laminar or turbulent and that the plasma influences these regimes. The first detection and relative measurement by LIF of nitrogen metastable (N2(A)) produced by an argon APPJ is also shortly reported in this work. The outcome of this thesis will bring new insights in the field of argon APPJs chemistry and its interaction with the ambient atmosphere which can be valuable to support plasma modelling and to consider for the applications in plasma medicine.