Application of a pulsed atmospheric arc plasma jet for low‐density polyethylene coating

The development of a method for deposition of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) on rotating three‐dimensional aluminum alloy substrates is presented. LDPE powder with an average diameter of 50  μ m is dispersed with nitrogen as a carrier gas. This suspension is injected into a plasma plume generated by a pulsed atmospheric arc plasma jet (PAA‐PJ). The optimized PAA‐PJ operating parameters are a pulse frequency of 63 kHz, a power of 1,500 W, a plasma gas (mixture of nitrogen with 3.3% hydrogen) flow of 54 SLM (standard litre per minute), a carrier gas flow of 9 SLM, and a powder rate of up to 5 g/min. The plasma head is moved at 200 mm/s, and the substrate is rotated at 10 rev/min. The net deposition rate reaches 2.5 g/min. A homogeneous, high‐quality film with 1‐mm thickness is deposited on an approximately 100 cm 2 substrate surface.