Influence of Chemical Precleaning on the Plasma Treatment Efficiency of Aluminum by RF Plasma Pencil

This paper is aimed to show the influence of initial chemical pretreatment prior to subsequent plasma activation of aluminum surfaces.The results of our study showed that the state of the topmost surface layer（i.e.the surface morphology and chemical groups）of plasma modified aluminum significantly depends on the chemical precleaning.Commonly used chemicals（isopropanol,trichlorethane,solution of Na OH in deionized water）were used as precleaning agents.The plasma treatments were done using a radio frequency driven atmospheric pressure plasma pencil developed at Masaryk University,which operates in Ar,Ar/O_2 gas mixtures.The effectiveness of the plasma treatment was estimated by the wettability measurements,showing high wettability improvement already after 0.3 s treatment.The effects of surface cleaning（hydrocarbon removal）,surface oxidation and activation（generation of OH groups）were estimated using infrared spectroscopy.The changes in the surface morphology were measured using scanning electron microscopy.Optical emission spectroscopy measurements in the near-to-surface region with temperature calculations showed that plasma itself depends on the sample precleaning procedure.

CNT toughened aluminium and CFRP interface for strong adhesive bonding

This study presents a simple technique for strengthening the adhesive-bond strength between aluminium(Al)substrate and carbon fibre reinforced polymer(CFRP) utilising resin pre-coating(RPC) with carbon nanotubes(CNTs). The CNT-containing RPC solution with 90 wt% acetone and 10 wt% resin(without hardener) was applied onto Al substrates, where micro-/nano-vertical channels had been created by chemical or mechanical surface treatments to accommodate CNTs. RPC was able to fill all micro-/nano-cavities over the Al substrate surface, then CNTs were pulled into those vertical micro-channels by the capillary action generated from acetone evaporation.Normal epoxy adhesive(resin + hardener) was applied after the CNT-containing RPC treatment. CNTs bridging across the interface between the adhesive joint and Al substrate and sealing of micro-/nano-cavities by RPC effectively enhanced the interfacial shear bond strength between the Al substrate and CFRP by 30–100%depending on the Al substrate surface profiles. Al substrates with two different chemical treatments were compared in this study for the effectiveness of CNT interfacial reinforcement. Results from a steel substrate after sandblasting were also included for comparison.