The properties of materials, especially of solids, can be attributed mainly to the phenomena occurring at the surface. Surface engineering deals with altering the surface properties of materials to realize useful functionalities like wear and corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, hardening etc. Among the various methods adopted, plasma surface modification stands out, because of the inherent dry processing nature and little amount of left over chemicals. In conventional plasma systems, the process is carried out in a low pressure environment. This restricts its use in treating vacuum incompatible materials including tissues and bio-medical samples. Moreover, the batch processing nature and use of expensive vacuum pumps put a bottle-neck in the throughput of any production line. The subject matter of this thesis is about developing and optimizing an atmospheric pressure (760 torr) plasma system and to use it for surface modification of polymers. The experimental system developed, consists of two parallel electrodes facing each other, each of which is covered with a dielectric plate. A gap of 4mm exists between the dielectric surfaces, through which an axial flow of the working gas is maintained. When a high voltage is applied across the electrodes, the gas breaks down, creating plasma. The surface of the sample kept in this plasma, undergoes various phenomena, depending on the power applied, type of gas used and gas flow rate. To drive the plasma a high voltage power supply, which is able to generate 10 kV at 5.8 kHz, was developed in the laboratory. By varying the process parameters, the inherent filamentary nature of discharge can be converted to a diffuse uniform glow. The purity of plasma was studied and established by analyzing the optical emission from the plasma. After optimizing the system, it was used to modify the surface properties of polyester sheets. The wetting nature was altered using fluorocarbon and oxygen plasmas, realizing hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. The contact angle of a water droplet made with the surface changed from 72° to 84° degree for hydrophobic and to 22° for hydrophilic surfaces respectively. Through this investigation, an insight to the procedure for developing an Atmospheric glow discharge system was developed. The details about system frame work, the power supply, electrical and optical characterization of the plasma, are well studied and recorded. The work establishes the various parameters to be varied to convert the filamentary discharge to a uniform glow. Purity of the plasma has been studied extensively and the system design and process values essential for maintaining the purity have been dealt with. Finally the plasma was put in use for surface modification of polymers, and the surface wetting nature alteration was studied and quantified.

Orientador: Fernando Alvarez / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T05:33:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Basso_RodrigoLeonardodeOliveira_D.pdf: 34307948 bytes, checksum: fd2817ddc7e94a48942bf4136fdb0472 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre os efeitos da incorporação de carbono e nitrogênio na formação de uma camada monofásica, compacta e homogênea, composta por carbonitretos do tipo e -Fe2-3(C,N), na superfície da liga metálica AISI H13. Também são apresentados estudos sobre os efeitos da incorporação desses elementos nas propriedades mecânicas, químicas e na microestrutura da superfície da liga metálica. A incorporação desses elementos na superfície do material foi feita utilizando-se o tratamento termoquímico de nitrocarburização por plasma pulsado em atmosferas contendo N2+ H2+ CH4 em diferentes proporções. Além da composição da atmosfera de tratamento, também foram variadas a temperatura e o tempo de tratamento. De maneira a complementar o estudo do comportamento da liga metálica frente ao tratamento termoquímico a plasma, também foram preparadas amostras com atmosferas oxidantes contendo CO2. A análise da composição química da superfície das amostras foi feita através de espectroscopia de fotoelétrons e mostra que a incorporação de nitrogênio sofre grande influência da quantidade de gás contendo carbono, presente no plasma. Porém a incorporação desses elementos não é diretamente proporcional à concentração do gás contendo esse elemento. Ao contrário do esperado, aumentando-se suficientemente a concentração desses elementos na atmosfera de tratamento, não acarreta em aumento na concentração dos mesmos no material. Por outro lado a análise através de difração de raios X revelou a formação de estruturas cristalinas consistentes com o diagrama de fases do sistema Fe-C-N. Para menores concentrações de compostos de carbono no plasma, a formação de nitretos e carbonitretos é predominante enquanto que maiores quantidades desse elemento levam ao surgimento da fase cementita e -Fe3 C, indesejável por possuir baixa resistência mecânica. As propriedades mecânicas da superfície foram estudadas através de medidas de nano e micro-dureza e seus resultados indicam que, como esperado, amostras com maior quantidade de nitrogênio incorporada possuim maior dureza da superfície. Esse comportamento é condizente com a microestrutura observada por microscopia eletrônica de varredura que mostra o entrelaçamento dos grãos da estrutura do aço e o preenchimento de seus contornos com carbonitretos de ferro que dificultam a movimentação dos planos cristalinos do cristal aumentando sua dureza. Foi verificado que as concentrações de carbono e de nitrogênio contido no material exercem grande influência sobre a reatividade da superfície das amostras frente a processos corrosivos em meios contendo íons cloreto. Esse comportamento foi verificado através de medidas de corrosão em solução aquosa de NaCl a 0,9 vol.%. Novamente os resultados apontam que maior concentração de nitrogênio é responsável por conferir a superfície maior proteção contra corrosão. Esses resultados são atribuídos a presença de uma mono-fase compacta formada pela fase e - Fe2-3 (C,N) na superfície das amostras. Resultados menos significativos foram obtidos quando a superfície continha uma mistura de fases contendo g -Fe4 N, e -Fe2-3 N, a -Fe e CrN / Abstract: This work presents a study on the effect of the incorporation of carbon and nitrogen on he formation of a singlephase homogeneous layer, composed by e -Fe2-3(C,N) carbonitrides, on the top surface of a AISI H13 tool steel. We also present studies on the effect of the incorporation of these elements (C and N) in the microstructure and in the mechanical and chemical properties of the surface of the metallic alloy. The incorporation of these elements in the surface of the material was made using the plasma nitrocarburizing termochemical treatment in atmospheres containing N2 + H2+CH4 in different ratios. Beyond the composition of the treatment atmosphere, the temperature and the time of treatment had been also varied. In way to complement the study of the behavior of the metallic alloy we had been also prepared samples with oxidating atmospheres containing CO2. The chemical composition analysis of the sample¿s surface was made through X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy and pointed that nitrogen incorporation suffers great influence from the amount of gas containing carbon, on the plasma atmosphere. However the incorporation of these elements is not directly proportional to the concentration of the gas containing this element. In con-trast, increasing enough the concentration of these elements in the treatment atmosphere, it does not cause increase in the concentration of the same element in the material¿s surface. On the other hand the X-ray diffraction analysis showed the formation of crystalline structures, consistent with the phase diagram of Fe-C-N system. For lesser carbon concentrations in the plasma, the formation of nitrides and carbides are predominant whereas bigger amounts of this element lead to the formarion of the cementite phase (q -Fe3 C , undesirable for possessing low resistance mechanics). The mechanical properties of the surface had been studied by means of nano and microhardness and its results indicate that, as expected, samples with bigger amount of incorporated nitrogen possesses bigger hardness in its surface. This behavior is in agreement with the observed microstructure observed by scanning electron microscopy that show the interlacement of the grains of the steel structure and the fulfilling of its boundaries with iron carbonitrides that make it difficult the movement of the crystalline plans of the lattice increasing its hardness. It was verified that the nitrogen and carbon concentrations in the material¿s surface, are of great influence on the reactivity of the surface regarding to corrosive processes in clorine solutions. This behavior was verified by measurements of corrosion in NaCl aqueous solution. Again the results pointed that bigger nitrogen concentration is responsible for protecting the surface against corrosion process. These results are attributed to the presence of a compact and homogeneous e -Fe2-3(C,N) surface layer on the surface of the samples. Less significant results had been gotten when the surface contained a mixture of phases containing g -F e4N, e -Fe2-3 N, a -Fe e CrN / Doutorado / Física da Matéria Condensada / Doutor em Ciências

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