In this study, argon and nitrogen were used as the discharge gases in radio-frequency （RF： 13.56 MHz） powered dielectric barrier atmospheric plasma. It was noticed that in single dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） with nitrogen as the discharge gas, or in argon plasma with a high applied power, micro-filament channels were easily formed. The channels in these two kinds of discharge were both constrictive on the bare metallic electrode and expansive on the opposite electrode covered with a quartz layer. The number of micro-channels was increased along with the input power, which caused the change in the I-V curve shape, i.e., the current kept increasing and the voltage fluctuated within a confined range. With double dielectric layers, however, no micro-channels appeared in the ICCD images, and the I-V curve demonstrated a totally different shape. It was assumed that micro-filaments exhibited a restraining effect on the discharge voltage. The mechanism of this restraining effect was explored in this work.
In this study, tungsten （W） was coated on a copper （Cu） substrate by using doubleglow discharge technique using a pure W panel as the target and argon （Ar） as the discharge and sputtering gas. The crystal structure of the W coating was examined by X-ray diffraction （XRD）. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） was performed with cross-section images to investigate the penetration depth of W into the Cu body. Additionally, the properties of wearability resistance, corrosion resistance and mechanical strength of the W coated Cu matrix were also measured. It is concluded that in double-glow plasma, W coated Cu can be facilely prepared. It is noticed that the treatment temperature heavily dominates the properties of the W-Cu composite.
