CLEANING AND OXIDATION OF ALUMINUM SURFACE USING RUNAWAY ELECTRONS PREIONIZED DIFFUSE DISCHARGE FORMED IN THE NITROGEN FLOW OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
Surface treatment of aluminum plates using the plasma of pulsed periodic discharge in an inhomogeneous electric field in the nitrogen flow of atmospheric pressure is presented. Due to the generation of runaway electrons and X-rays, diffuse discharge is formed by voltage pulses of negative polarity with an amplitude of 30 kV, a full width at half maximum of ~6 ns and frequency of 2 kHz between plane aluminum anode and cathode of small curvature radius. Experimental results show that using the discharge plasma obtained under certain experimental conditions can clean aluminum surface from carbon, as well as surface oxidation with layer thickness up to 25 nm.