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Thin Solid Films 516 (2008) 3684 – 3689

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Development of split gliding arc for surface treatment of conductive material

Hajime Shiki a , Junpei Motoki a , Yukikazu Ito a , Hirofumi Takikawa a,⁎, Takeshi Ootsuka b ,
Takashi Okawa c , Shigenobu Yamanaka c , Eiji Usuki d , Yoshimi Nishimura e ,
Shigeji Hishida e , Tateki Sakakibara f
a
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Aichi 441-8580, Japan
b
Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd., 585 Toyotomi, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8601, Japan
c
Daiken Chemical Co., Ltd., 2-7-19 Hanaten-nishi, Joto, Osaka 536-0011, Japan
d
Sintobrator Ltd., 51 Shinmei, Ubukuji, Kitanagoya, Aichi 481-8678, Japan
e
Kurita Seisakusho Co., Ltd., Yuyadani, Ujitawara, Tsuzuki, Kyoto 610-0221, Japan
f
Gifu National College of Technology, 2236-2 Kamimakuwa, Motosu, Gifu 501-0495, Japan

Available online 19 August 2007

Abstract

A gliding arc is one of the atmospheric-pressure plasmas and available for surface treatment. However, when this gliding arc is used to irradiate
conductive materials, arc spots appear on the surface and seriously damage it. In the present study, in order to prevent such arc spot damage on a
conductive substrate, a split gliding arc was designed with a multi-hole plate placed at the exit window. This split gliding arc was irradiated onto
several metals, and its ability to treat the hydrophilic property was verified.
© 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Split gliding arc; Surface treatment; Conductive materials; Arc spot damage

1. Introduction plasma can use any gas as a working gas, even air. A pulsed-arc
plasma under atmospheric pressure generates radicals as
Plasma treatment under atmospheric pressure [1,2] is conventional cold plasma and also generates median tempera-
considered to be an attractive process compared to the tures such as room temperature up to 500 °C. We named this kind
conventional wet or vacuum process, from the standpoint of of plasma meso-plasma; the temperature ranges between those
simple equipment, easy operation, low running cost, high of cold and thermal plasma. The conventional gliding arc is
industrial productivity, and no waste emission. When a plasma is one of them [6,7]. Some of the authors have developed another
used to irradiate a solid surface such as polymer, glass or metal, type of meso-plasma called PEN-Jet (Plasma Energized-Jet)
the organic contamination on the surface can be removed, the [8,9], a new technique to generate multiple meso-plasma with
functional groups such as hydroxyl group and carboxyl group only one power supply [10].
can be formed on the surface, and the surface can be etched, by The gliding arc is considered to have better performance than
chemical and/or physical reaction. As a result, a hydrophilic the PEN-Jet for large-area treatment. The PEN-Jet is a line
property can be given to the surface. For this treatment, many plasma-jet spouting from a small hole (typically less than 3 mm
kinds of atmospheric plasmas (glow discharge, arc discharge, RF in diameter). The gliding arc is also a jet-type plasma, but exits
discharge, microwave discharge, and dielectric discharge) have from a rectangular window. Thus, it is a pseudo-plane plasma jet.
been used [3–5]. Most of the plasmas require relatively However, the gliding arc has a problem in that the conductive
expensive helium or argon as a plasma-working gas in order to surface suffers damage due to arc spots generated on the surface.
obtain stable plasma. The authors have been interested in pulsed Because of this problem, application of the gliding arc has been
arc-discharge plasma under atmospheric pressure, since the limited to the treatment of non-conductive material or only
conductive material that permits such damage with no resultant
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +81 532 44 6727. hindrance. In order to realize damage-free treatment of
E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Takikawa). conductive materials while maintaining the advantage of large-
0040-6090/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2007.08.047
 H. Shiki et al. / Thin Solid Films 516 (2008) 3684–3689 3685

2. Gliding arc

2.1. Gliding arc generation

A gliding arc is generated with two diverging electrodes

immersed in a fast gas flow. By applying high voltage between the
electrodes, the arc discharge starts at the shortest electrode gap, and
the arc spot and the column are pushed downstream by gas flow. At
the starting point, the arc is considered to be in a state of thermal
equilibrium, while downstream, the plasma is cooled by
convection of the gas flow and reaches a state of non-thermal
equilibrium [6,7]. The arc voltage between the electrodes increases
with the length of the arc column and the convection loss. Thus, the
arc voltage is higher in the downstream region. After the sum of the
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of gliding arc and power supply. W is the plasma arc voltage and the voltage drop due to the circuit resistance (or
width at the channel exit and L is the maximum jet length L from the exit. impedance) reaching the maximum output voltage of the power
supply, the arc is instantly extinguished. Immediately thereafter, a
area treatment, in this paper, a new gliding arc, called the split new arc is generated at the shortest gap by the next incoming high
gliding arc, was developed after the optimization of the electrode voltage. By repeating this arc generating-extinguishing process, a
configuration. pseudo-flat plasma is formed. The set-up used in this paper is
shown in Fig. 1. The gas flow takes place in a channel composed of

Fig. 2. Irradiation of conventional gliding arc on SUS304 (input power, 300 W; Fig. 3. SEM micrographs of SUS304 treated for 5 s (input power, 300 W; pulse
pulse mode, continuous; pulse frequency, 20 kHz; pulse width, 2.0 μs). (a) Front mode, continuous; pulse frequency, 20 kHz; pulse width, 2.0 μs), showing arc
view and (b) side view. spots. (a) Low and (b) high magnification.
3686 H. Shiki et al. / Thin Solid Films 516 (2008) 3684–3689

The pulse power generated in a pulse modulator (Kurita

Seisakusho Co., Ltd., 6 kW) with a slide regulator (Matsunaga
Seisakusho, S3-2413, 5.2 kVA) was supplied to the plasma
through a high-voltage transformer (Kurita Seisakusho Co., Ltd.,
250/12 kV). The used gas was dry air, supplied from the reserve
tank (Hitachi, 150 L) and charged by an air compressor (Hitachi,
PSD-5.5A). The gas flow rate was monitored with a digital mass-
flow meter (Yamatake, CMG-150C), and was controlled by a
needle valve. In this study, the operation conditions were as
follows: pulse frequency, 15–20 kHz; pulse width, 1.6–2.8 μs;
shortest gap, 4 mm; dry-air flow rate, 40 L/min; dry-air supply
pressure, less than 0.01 MPa.
Fig. 4. Explanatory illustration of plasma-irradiation of (a) non-conductive and
(b) conductive substrates.
2.2. Conventional gliding arc irradiation of conductive
material
two quartz plates or two heat-resistant polymer plates. The
electrode used was copper (Cu). The distance from the point of When the gliding arc irradiates conductive materials, an arc
shortest electrode gap to the exit was 25 mm. discharge occurs between the surface and electrodes, and an arc

Fig. 5. Photographs of gliding arc plasmas with different electrode configurations (input power, 300 W; pulse mode, continuous; pulse frequency, 20 kHz; pulse width,
2.0 μs). (a) X-shape, (b) straight W-shape, and (c) curved W-shape.
 H. Shiki et al. / Thin Solid Films 516 (2008) 3684–3689 3687

spot is generated on the surface at two places corresponding to

each electrode. As an example, Fig. 2 shows a digital-camera
photograph (Panasonic, DMC-LX1; exposure time: 1/30 s) of
the gliding arc irradiation onto stainless steel (SUS304). The
broken lines represent the position of the electrodes (Cu, 2-mm
diameter). Many arc spots can be observed, which randomly
move about right and left, in front and behind, at high speed. In
the present study, the surface of SUS304 substrate treated for 5 s
by 300-W electrical input was observed with a scanning electron
microscope (Hitachi, S-4500II), and shown in Fig. 3. Many arc
spots composed of craters and outer circular portions are
observed on the damaged surface. Arc-spot craters were about
100 μm long and 15 μm wide along the lined traces on the
finished SUS304 surfaces.
Fig. 4 provides an illustration of the arc irradiation of
conductive and non-conductive materials. With a non-conduc-
tive substrate, whenever the arc column and plume jet touch the Fig. 6. Schematic design of split gliding arc with multi-hole plate.
surface, the current does not flow in the substrate. However,
with a conductive substrate, when the arc column approaches
the substrate, the arc current flows within it, since the substrate configuration has the longest jet. However, the width of the X-
has lower conductivity than the plasma. In this case, the shape was narrower than those of the other configurations. It is
substrate acts as the third electrode. As a result, the arc spots are considered that the electrodes disturb the gas stream spreading the
generated at the interface between the arc column and the plasma, especially other than at the center where the gas stream
substrate surface. The high temperature and explosive behavior must pass over the electrodes twice. The W-shape configuration
of the arc spot surely damage both the substrate and the eventual has the widest plasma jet at the exit. However, for large substrate
quality of the products. treatment, the electrodes protruding from the exit were certainly
obstacles. Hence, the appropriate configuration was determined to
3. Optimization of gliding arc be the modified W-shape, which was a curved W-shape.

In a gliding arc, there are many conditional parameters. One 4. Development of new gliding arc torches
of the major parameters is the electric conditions such as
voltage, current, waveform, frequency and pulse width. The 4.1. Split gliding arc
others are aeromechanical and geometrical such as gas species,
flow speed, arrangement and configuration of electrodes. In To prevent arc spot damage to the conductive substrate, the
particular, the geometrical arrangement is strongly influenced arc spot generation must be prevented. To do so, the arc column
by the shape of the gliding arc. Therefore, different electrode that maintains the arc current must be extended or chopped apart
configurations were initially examined to obtain a better plasma in order to keep the arc column in the torch body and thus allow
jet configuration. Tested configurations were X-shape, straight only the arc plume to reach the treated surface. Thus, we decided
W-shape, and curved W-shape. to employ a multi-hole plate placed at the exit of the gliding arc,
Fig. 5 shows photographs of gliding arcs with different as shown in Fig. 6. The system is called a split gliding arc. First, a
electrode configurations. The broken lines represent the position fireproof board (thickness, 5 mm) was used in order to determine
of the electrodes. The electrodes were fixed to the side plates. The the appropriate hole-configuration. Several configurations listed
gas flow channel was composed of two quartz plates. The in Table 2 were tested, and the arc-plume jet-length was
electrode was Cu 1.6 mm diameter. Table 1 shows the plasma determined corresponding to each hole was measured from
width W at the channel exit and maximum jet length L from the photographs. The results are shown in Table 2. In cases A and B,
exit, which was visibly determined from the photographs taken
under the same conditions. In all cases, the plasma jet was Table 2
sufficiently long to treat the substrate surface. The X-shape Effect of hole-configuration on plasma jet length from the exit at each hole of
split gliding arc (input power, 300 W; pulse mode, continuous; pulse frequency,
30 Hz; pulse width, 2.8 μs)
Table 1
Effect of electrode configuration on plasma width W at the exit and jet length L Case Hole diameter Plasma jet length (mm) 〈hole number〉
from the exit in gliding arc (input power, 300 W; pulse mode, continuous; pulse
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11
frequency, 20 Hz; pulse width, 2.0 μs)
A #1–11: 1.5 mmϕ 0 0 0 6.1 7.1 7.6 7.2 6.1 0 0 0
Configuration Width W (mm) Length L (mm)
B #1–11: 2.0 mmϕ 0 0 5.5 5.8 7.7 8.8 8.2 5.8 5.5 0 0
X-shape 19.6 9.6 C #1–4, 5–7, 0 0 6.5 7.6 6.0 6.1 6.0 7.8 6.5 0 0
Straight W-shape 28.4 8.5 8–11: 2.0,
Curved W-shape 24.4 4.8 1.5, 2.0 mmϕ
3688 H. Shiki et al. / Thin Solid Films 516 (2008) 3684–3689

holes of the same diameter were placed at 2-mm intervals (center

hole number, 6). The longer jet was obtained with a larger hole,
but the lengths were not uniform (longer at the center, shorter at
the side). In cases C and D, the holes in the center part were
smaller than those at the sides. It was found that when the hole in

Fig. 8. Water contact angle of 4 different metals before and after split-gliding-arc
treatment (input power, 300 W; pulse mode, continuous; pulse frequency, 30 Hz;
pulse width, 2.8 μs; process time, 5 s).

the center part was too small, the distribution of the jet length had
a double peak, and when the hole in the center part was slightly
smaller than those in the sides, an almost uniform distribution of
jet length could be realized.
As the final form, a multi-hole plate with the case D
configuration was made of quartz. A photograph of the split-
gliding-arc torch with free-burning plasma is shown in Fig. 7(a),
and the plasma jet irradiation of SUS304 is shown in Fig. 7(b).
No arc spot was observed, and the surface treated for 5 s showed
no damage as indicated in Fig. 7(c).

4.2. Surface treatment by split gliding arc

In order to verify the treatment performance of the split gliding

arc, aluminum (Al), Cu, SUS304 (nonmagnetic), and SUS430
(magnetic) were plasma-irradiated for 5 s at one position without
traverse motion. The contact angle of distilled water on the treated
surface was measured with a contact angle meter (Kyowa
Interface Science, DorpMaster 300; amount of water droplet,
1.5 ml). The result is shown in Fig. 8. The water contact angle
decreased for all metals after indicating the split gliding arc, and
the hydrophilic property was thereby improved. These metal
substrates for 5-s irradiation were observed with SEM, and it was
confirmed that there was no damage due to the arc spot.

5. Conclusions

An improved gliding arc plasma, the so-called split gliding

arc, was developed for surface treatment of conductive
materials in open air conditions without any damage due to
the arc spot, after parametric investigation of the fine adjustment
of the electrode configuration and the pulse parameters of power
supply. The hole configuration of the multi-hole plate placed at
the exit of the split-gliding-arc torch was optimized. The
principal results obtained in this study may be summarized as
follows.
Fig. 7. Photographs of (a) free-burning split gliding arc (case D in Table 2),
(b) irradiation of SUS304, and (c) SEM micrograph of surface treated for 5 s
(input power, 300 W; pulse mode, continuous; pulse frequency, 20 kHz; pulse (1) A conventional gliding arc damages the surface of
width, 2.8 μs). conductive materials due to the arc spot appearance.
 H. Shiki et al. / Thin Solid Films 516 (2008) 3684–3689 3689

(2) A W-shape electrode configuration is appropriate for and D of Advanced Semiconductor” and JSPS-CAS in the field
large-area treatment. of “Plasma and Nuclear Fusion”).
(3) A split gliding arc does not damage the conductive
surface, because the arc column dose not protrude from References
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