• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.125-130
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• 2008

Conventional plasma carburizing or nitriding for austenitic stainless steels results in a degradation of corrosion resistance. However, a low temperature plasma surface treatment can improve surface hardness without deteriorating the corrosion resistance. The 2-step low temperature plasma processes (the combined carburizing and post nitriding) offers the increase of both surface hardness and thickness of hardened layer and corrosion resistance than the individually processed low temperature nitriding and low temperature carburizing techniques. In the present paper, attempts have been made to investigate the influence of the introduction of Ar gas (0~20%) in nitriding atmosphere during low temperature plasma nitriding at $370^{\circ}C$ after low temperature plasma carburizing at $470^{\circ}C$. All treated specimens exhibited the increase of the surface hardness with increasing Ar level in the atmosphere and the surface hardness value reached up to 1050 HV0.1, greater than 750 $HV_{0.1}$ in the carburized state. The expanded austenite phase (${\gamma}_N$) was observed on the most of the treated surfaces. The thickness of the ${\gamma}_N$ layer reached about $7{\mu}m$ for the specimen treated in the nitriding atmosphere containing 20% Ar. In case of 10% Ar containing atmosphere, the corrosion resistance was significantly enhanced than untreated austenitic stainless steels, whilst 20% Ar level in the atmosphere caused to form CrN in the N-enriched layer (${\gamma}_N$), which led to the degradation of corrosion resistance compared with untreated austenitic stainless steels.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.177-178
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• 2012

In this experiment, post-nitriding treatment has been performed at $400^{\circ}C$ on AISI 316 stainless steel which is plasma carburized previously at $430^{\circ}C$ for 15 hours. Plasma nitriding was implemented on AISI 316 stainless steel at various gas compositions (25% N2, 50% N2 and 75% N2) for 4 hours. Additionally, during post nitriding Ar gas was used with H2 and N2 to observe the improvement of treatment. After treatment, the behavior of the hybrid layer was investigated by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and micro-hardness testing. Potentiodynamic polarization test was also used to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the samples. Meanwhile, it was found that the surface hardness increased with increasing the nitrogen gas content. Also small percentage of Ar gas was introduced in the post nitriding process which improved the hardness of the hardened layer but reduces the corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample. The experiment revealed that AISI 316L stainless steel showed better hardness and excellent corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample, when 75% N2 gas was used during the post nitriding treatment. Also addition of Ar gas during post nitriding treatment were degraded the corrosion resistance of the sample compared with the carburized sample.

• Carbon letters
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.103-107
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• 2004

The atmospheric pressure plasma treatments ($Ar/O_2$ and $Ar/N_2$) of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were carried out to introduce hydrophilic functional groups on carbon surfaces in order to enhance the hydrogen chloride gas (HCl) adsorption. Surface properties of the ACFs were determined by XPS and SEM. $N_2$/77 K adsorption isotherms were investigated by BET and D-R (Dubinin-Radushkevich) plot methods. The HCl removal efficiency was confirmed by HCl detecting tubes (range:1~40 or 40~1000 ppm). As experimental results, it was found that all plasma-treated ACFs showed the decrease in the pore volume, but the HCl removal efficiency showed higher level than that of the untreated ACFs. This result indicated that the plasma treatments led to the conformation of hydrophilic functional groups on the carbon surfaces, resulting in the increase of the interaction between the ACFs and HCl gas.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.344-350
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• 1999

The surface chemical structure of three kinds of polyethylene (PE): high density (HD) PE, low density (LD) PE and linear (L)-LDPE exposed to Ar and $O_2$ plasmas has been investigated using XPS. Oxygen was incorporated in a more increased amount for HDPE than for L-LDPE and LDPE. Ar plasma tended to incorporate more oxygen than $O_2$ plasma. The XPS valence band spectra for Ar plasma exhibited a clear peak assigned to $O_2$s character. By chemical derivatization method it was found that the amount of -COOH group at the surface was much greater than that of -OH group. The hydrophilic nature of plasma-treated PE increased in the order: LDPE

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.266-270
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• 2010

The effect of an Ar plasma treatment on polycarbonate substrates was investigated using $TiO_2$ coatings produced by reactive ion-beam assisted sputtering. The typical pressure used during sputtering was about $10^{-4}$ Torr. After the Ar plasma treatment, the contact angle of a water droplet was reduced from $88^{\circ}$ to $52^{\circ}$ and then further decreased to $12^{\circ}$ with the addition of oxygen into the chamber. The surface of the polycarbonate substrate hanged from hydrophobic to hydrophilic with these treatments and revealed its changing nano-scale roughness. The $TiO_2$ films on the treated surface showed various colors and periodic ordering dependant on the film thickness due to optical interference.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.588-596
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• 2006

The surface of polystyrene membrane treated by Ar, $O_2$ plasma, and the effects were observed before and after the treatment and permeability of $CO_2$, $N_2$ and selectivity of $CO_2$ relative to $N_2$ was measured using continuous flow gas permeation analyzer (GPA). The mole ratio of O over C in the surface was increased from 0 to 0.179 with Ar plasma treatment and route mean square of surface was increased from $15.86{\AA}$ to $71.64{\AA}$. Therefore the contact angle was decreased from $89.16^{\circ}$ to $18.1^{\circ}$. Thus Plasma treatments made surface of membrane tend to be highly hydrophilic. The optimum condition for the $CO_2$ permeability and ideal selectivity of the plasma treated membrane was as follows: the measurement of Ar (60 W, 2 min, $70^{\circ}C$) plasma treatment was $1.14{\times}10^{-12}[m^3(STP){\cdot}m/m^2{\cdot}sec{\cdot}atm]$ and 4.22. In the case of $O_2$ plasma treatment, the contact angle was decreased at $13.56^{\circ}$ with increase of O/C ratio ($0.189{\AA}$) and route mean square of surface ($57.10{\AA}$). The optimum condition for the $CO_2$ permeability and ideal selectivity of the plasma treated membrane was as follows: the measurement of $O_2$ (90 W, 2 min, $70^{\circ}C$) plasma treatment was $7.1{\times}10^{-12}[m^3(STP){\cdot}m/m^2{\cdot}sec{\cdot}atm]$ and 11.5. After plasma treatment, the changes of membrane surface were all subtly linked with both cross-linking and etching effects. Finally, it was confirmed that the gas permeation capacity and selectivity of the modified membrane with plasma could be improved by an appropriate control of the plasma conditions such as treatment time, the power input and sort of plasma gas.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.215-219
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• 2013

In this study, in order to investigate how consecutive treatments of glass surface with HF acid and water vapor/Ar plasma affect the quality of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane self-assembled monolayer (APS-SAM), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) thin films were vapor phase-polymerized immediately after spin coating of FeCl3 and poly-urethane diol-mixed oxidant solution on the monolayer surfaces prepared at various treatment conditions. For the film characterization, various poweful tools were used, e.g., FE-SEM, an optical microscope, four point probe, and a contact angle analyzer. The characterization revealed that a well prepared APS-SAM on a glass surface treated with water vapor/Ar plasma is very useful for uniform coating of FeCl3 and DUDO mixed oxidant solution, regardless of HF treatment. On the other hand, a bare glass surface without APS-SAM but treated with HF and water vapor/Ar plasma generally led to a very poor oxidant film. As a result, PEDOT films vapor phase-polymerized on APS-SAM surfaces are far superior to those on bare glass surfaces in the quality and electrical characteristics aspects.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.836-840
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• 2013

In this study, the surface modification of copper foil using an inductively coupled $O_2$ / Ar plasma as $O_2$ gas fraction (0~100%) was investigated in order to improve the surface characteristics. After plasma treatment, the measurement of the surface roughness, surface contact angle and surface energy were performed for the surface analysis of copper foil. As a result, the surface roughness and the surface energy were increased. And plasma diagnostics was performed by a double Langmuir probe (DLP) and optical emission spectroscopy (OES). Using these results, the plasma surface modification mechanism was investigated.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.581-587
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• 2005

Commercial polyurethane film (PU) was modified with Ar plasma ionized in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plate-type reactor under atmospheric pressure. We measured the change of the contact angle and the surface fee energy with respect to the plasma treatment conditions such as treatment time, RF-power, and Ar gas flow rate. We also optimized the plasma treatment conditions to maximize the surface peroxide concentration. At the plasma treatment time of 70 sec, the power of 120 W and the Ar gas flow rate of 5 liter per minute (LPM), the best wettability and the highest surface fee energy were obtained. The 1,1 diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method confirmed that the surface peroxide concentration was about 2.1 nmol/$\cm^{2}$ at 80 W, 30 sec, 6 LPM.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.29-37
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• 2021

The effect of Ar/N₂ two-step plasma treatment on the quantitative interfacial adhesion energy of low temperature Cu-Cu bonding interface were systematically investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that Ar/N₂ 2-step plasma treatment has less copper oxide due to the formation of an effective Cu4N passivation layer. Quantitative measurements of interfacial adhesion energy of Cu-Cu bonding interface with Ar/N₂ 2-step plasma treatment were performed using a double cantilever beam (DCB) and 4-point bending (4-PB) test, where the measured values were 1.63±0.24 J/m² and 2.33±0.67 J/m², respectively. This can be explained by the increased interfacial adhesion energy according phase angle due to the effect of the higher interface roughness of 4-PB test than that of DCB test.