Treatment of tantalum using argon glow discharge plasma for applied purposes

The main purpose of this work is to use a low-cost DC plasma discharge to enhance the material properties. The source of the DC glow discharge plasma was the Batorm device. By using a low-pressure argon gas, the best operating conditions of the plasma were obtained at a pressure 3 x 10(-2) mbar and a breakdown voltage of 160 V. Electrical parameters of the plasma have been experimentally estimated at two different pressures 3 x 10(-2) and 4 x 10(-2) mbar. Tantalum material has been chosen to be treated along this work due to its great importance in industry. In addition, it is used as a cathode for the ion source inside the Egyptian cyclotron at the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA). A U-shaped tantalum sample, exactly like the cyclotron filament, was exposed to plasma created from 3 x 10(-2) mbar and 250 V for 30 min. At these low conditions, the obtained results were promising where the surface treatment of the sample caused cleaning and increased its hardness.