Browsing by Author "Bennett, Adam"
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Item Open Access Characterisation of a cold atmospheric pressure plasma torch for medical applications: demonstration of device safety(MDPI, 2021-12-14) Bennett, Adam; Urayama, Takuya; Papangelis, Konstantinos; Yuen, Peter W. T.; Yu, NanThe safety and effectiveness of plasma devices are of crucial importance for medical applications. This study presents the novel design of an atmospheric plasma torch (SteriPlas) and its characterisation. The SteriPlas was characterised to ascertain whether it is safe for application on human skin. The emission spectrum discharged from the SteriPlas was shown to be the same as the emission from the MicroPlaSter Beta. The UV emitted from the SteriPlas was measured, and the effective irradiance was calculated. The effective irradiance enabled the determination of the maximum UV exposure limits, which were shown to be over two hours: significantly longer than the current two-minute treatment time. The use of an extraction system with a higher flow rate appears to reduce slightly the effective irradiance at the treatment area. The NOx and ozone emissions were recorded for both SteriPlas configurations. The NOx levels were shown to be orders of agnitude lower than their safety limits. The ozone emissions were shown to be safe 25 mm from the SteriPlas cage. A discussion of how safety standards differ from one regulatory body to another is given.Item Open Access Effect of plasma processing parameters on the surface modification of fibre reinforced composites by atmospheric pressure plasma treatment(euspen, 2021-06-10) Frumosu, Lydia; Bishop, Alex; Castelli, Marco; Bennett, Adam; Nicholls, John R.; Huang, ZhaorongThis report presents a study on the effect of microwave plasma sources on the surface modification of carbon fibre reinforced composites. The adhesion property of polymer composites is an important consideration in manufacturing processes. A key challenge in polymer adhesion is the need for adhesive pre-treatment to improve the wettability properties of the surface. Often three sequential steps are needed: contaminant removal, physically induced surface modification and chemical treatment. Atmospheric plasma treatment (APT) has been shown to either achieve, or eliminate the need for, one or more of these steps. The effects of APT on the surface properties of thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers have been reported recently, but the report on the effect of different plasma sources on the APT of polymers is limited. 50% carbon fibre epoxy samples were subjected to a microwave plasma source with varied flow rate, power, and samples’ distance from source, under atmospheric conditions. The surface energy of the composites was determined using liquid contact angle analysis. A coherence scanning interferometer was used to characterise the surface changes. The underlying mechanisms for the observed change of surface properties will be discussed.Item Open Access Microwaves enable activated plasma figuring for ultra-precision fabrication of optics(European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology, 2016-06-30) Bennett, Adam; Jourdain, Renaud; Kirby, Paul; MacKay, P.; Shore, Paul; Nicholls, John R.; Morantz, PaulActivated plasma figuring using microwaves aims at providing highly efficient activated energy beams for rapid fabrication of optics. The chemical nature of this type of energy beam leads to targeting silicon-based materials. Furthermore this technology is proposed to address the needs of ultra-precision optical components. In this paper, we present a novel ADTEC microwavegenerated plasma torch design which is operated at atmospheric pressure. In this study, the plasma torch is fed with either argon or helium carrier gas. However this novel design for Plasma Figuring is targeted at local surface correction of crystal quartz which is a material of great interest for optical systems, such as acousto-optic devices. Also this novel design is targeted at reducing midspatial frequency errors such as waviness, ripple errors and residual sub-aperture tool footprints. These are responsible for the scattering of light at small angles, resulting in optical hazing effects, photonic energy loss and pixel cross-talk. Also the results of a preliminary investigation using Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) are reported and discussed. These results show the operat ing range when the main processing parameters are changed: microwave forward power values, gas flow rates and the types of gasses.Item Open Access Power dissipation of an inductively coupled plasma torch under E mode dominated regime(MDPI, 2021-07-18) Yu, Nan; Jourdain, Renaud; Gourma, Mustapha; Xu, Fangda; Bennett, Adam; Fang, FengzhouThis paper focuses on the power dissipation of a plasma torch used for an optical surface fabrication process. The process utilizes an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) torch that is equipped with a De-Laval nozzle for the delivery of a highly collimated plasma jet. The plasma torch makes use of a self-igniting coil and an intermediate co-axial tube made of alumina. The torch has a distinctive thermal and electrical response compared to regular ICP torches. In this study, the results of the power dissipation investigation reveal the true efficiency of the torch and discern its electrical response. By systematically measuring the coolant parameters (temperature change and flow rate), the power dissipation is extrapolated. The radio frequency power supply is set to 800 W, E mode, throughout the research presented in this study. The analytical results of power dissipation, derived from the experiments, show that 15.4% and 33.3% are dissipated by the nozzle and coil coolant channels, respectively. The experiments also enable the determination of the thermal time constant of the plasma torch for the entire range of RF power.