Surface modification by cathode spots of a vacuum arc

Author

Takeda, Koichi ; Sugimoto, Masaya

Author_Institution

Dept. of Machine Intelligence & Syst. Eng., Akita Prefectural Univ., Japan

Volume

29

Issue

5

fYear

2001

fDate

10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

718

Lastpage

721

Abstract

Cathode spots of a vacuum arc have the efficient property to remove oxide on the metal surface selectively. Analyses of the surface treated by vacuum arc revealed that various interesting surface modifications occurred during the removal of oxide. We have investigated these effects to open new applications of the vacuum arc. The cathode spots can remove inclusions, which often cause surface defects. They attack not only oxide but also carbide inclusions and eliminate them from the surface by evaporation. Removal of organic compounds is also possible. Degreasing (removal of grease) proceeds in parallel to the removal of oxide. The vacuum arc treatment results in the remarkable increase of hardness in the surface layer due to the rapid heating and quenching

Keywords

cathodes; heat treatment; plasma materials processing; surface treatment; vacuum arcs; carbide inclusions; cathode spots; degreasing; grease removal; metal surface; organic compounds; oxide removal; quenching; rapid heating; surface defects; surface evaporation; surface layer; surface modification; vacuum arc; Cathodes; Contacts; Electrodes; Green cleaning; Heat treatment; Surface cleaning; Surface contamination; Surface treatment; Switches; Vacuum arcs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.964461

Filename

964461