Carburizing of titanium with plasma jets under reduced pressure

Abstract

The carburizing of titanium with argon-methane (0.1%) and argon-methane (0.1%)-hydrogen (2%) plasma jets at a pressure of 200 Torr was studied. The carburizing of titanium was not successful with the argon-methane plasma jet because the specimen was covered with graphitic carbon. A hard and thick TiC layer was formed by the argon-methane-hydrogen plasma jet in a short time without the deposition of graphitic carbon. Emission spectra from the plasma jets show that the addition of hydrogen increases the amount of CH radicals as well as decreases the amount of C2 and C in the plasma jet. The decrease of C2 and C suppresses the deposition of graphitic carbon and enhances the TiC formation.