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• Q1: What are the effects of plasma treatment and how they compare to traditional heat and surface treatment?
• Q2: What is the impact of plasma treatment on wire surface? Can surface damage occur during aggressive plasma treatment?
• Q3: Can PlasmaAnnealer achieve temperatures as high as 1400 degrees Celsius?
• Q4: What is the energy efficiency of plasma heat treatment – Plasma Annealing?
• Q5: What is the processing speed of PlasmaANNEALER?
• Q6: What are the processing costs of PlasmaANNEALER?
• Q7: What are the maintenance costs of Plasma Treatment process?
• Q8: Can regular maintenance be performed by the operators?
• Q9: Are there parts of the machine that are subject to ware and require regular maintenance?
• Q10: Where do the dirt, lubricants, soaps and other surface deposits end up, once they have been removed from the surface in plasma?
• Q11: Can Plasma Treatment be used on very dirty wires?
• Q12: Is it possible to manipulate the annealing temperature during the operation?
• Q13: How can the operator control mechanical properties of the finished product? What degree of wire softness can be achieved with plasma annealing?
• Q14: What are the mechanical properties (tensile, elongation and grain size) of the plasma treated wire?
• Q15: What is the accuracy of the mechanical properties. What is the standard deviation of elongation of the finished wire?
• Q16: Is it possible to use Plasma Treatment for different applications / materials / diameters or is the machine limited to a single application / material?
• Q17: Does PlasmaANNEALER require supervision during operation?
• Q18: What skills and training is required for operation of Plasma Treatment Machine. Can PlasmaANNEALER be operated by an operator of a classic annealing plant?
• Q19: Does Plasmait provide customer support?
• Q20: Can Plasma process be used for wire surface cleaning only? Is it possible to minimise the annealing effect whilst maximising the surface treatment (cleaning/polishing) effect of plasma?
• Q21: What are the dimensions of PlasmaANNEALER?
• Q22: What are the risks associated with plasma technology in wire manufacturing? What safety measures are incorporated in a Plasma Treatment Machine?
• Q23: How hot does PlasmaANNEALER get during the operation and what is heat emission into the environment?
• Q24: Is plasma dangerous when released from the plasma chamber?
• Q25: Is it possible to test Plasma heat treatment on a specific material / own sample?
• Q26: Does PlasmaANNEALER have ability to accelerate and decelerate its process speed in line with drawing machine (ramp)? Can the wire stop whilst PlasmaANNEALER is in operation?
• Q27: What happens if the wire breaks during Plasma Treatment?
• Q28: What happens if the piece of wire is left in the plasma chamber during string-in?
• Q29: What size of wires/tubes/strips can be tested on PlasmaANNEALER?

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Answers

Q1: What are the effects of plasma treatment and how they compare to traditional heat and surface treatment processes?

A1: Plasma treatment can be described as a bombardment of ions on the wire surface. As such plasma treatment results in three effects on the wire: (1) heating of the wire, (2) surface cleaning (e.g. deoxidation, de-lubrication) and (3) surface polishing (increased micro-roughness, decreased macro-roughness). This makes PlasmaANNEALER particularly suitable for applications that require high quality of surface finish.
The key advantages of plasma treatment compared to traditional processes are:

• surface cleaning without surface erosion
• good surface finish (micro-roughness)
• energy efficiency
• low processing and maintenance costs
• accuracy of mechanical properties
• processing speed and operational flexibility

The benefits depend on specific application. Please contact us on info@plasmait.com to discuss the benefits plasma could bring to your application.

For further information about plasma technology and its benefits please read the article Plasma — New Technology for Wire Annealing/Wire Cleaning.

Q2: What is the impact of plasma treatment on wire surface? Can surface damage occur during aggressive plasma treatment?

A2: Plasma treatment can be described as ion bombardment on wire surface. Dirty deposits and oxides layers break under the mechanical impact of ion bombardment (micro sputtering) in the plasma chamber. Carbohydrate substances burn at high temperature turning into ashes.

Plasma process can also lead in a chemical reaction on the wire surface, providing that the right choice of processing gas and process parameters is achieved. This can lead to surface deoxidation / decontamination, which can be used as an alternative to acid pickling or electrochemical polishing. Unlike pickling and electrochemical polishing plasma treatment does NOT lead to surface erosion or loss of base material.

Plasma treatment can also be set to perform micro surface polishing. Macroscopic irregularities on the wire surface such as tips, apexes would be exposed to more intensive ion bombardment than flat surface, causing them to melt off. This will result in decreased macro-roughness and increased micro-roughness of the wire surface.

Plasma treatment does not damage the wire surface unless extreme and unreasonably powerful plasma is applied to the wire.

Q3: Can PlasmaAnnealer achieve temperatures as high as 1400 degrees Celsius?

A3: Yes. PlasmaANNEALER can in fact achieve temperatures much higher than 1400 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature is effectively limited by the melting point of the material. Furthermore, efficiency of plasma treatment generally increases with temperature, which makes plasma treatment very suitable for high-temperature materials such as tungsten.

Q4: What is the energy efficiency of plasma heat treatment – Plasma Annealing?

A4: The energy efficiency plasma heating is estimated at 99%. This means that 99% of the electrical power conducted into plasma converts into heat in the wire. However, the energy used by vacuum pumps to maintain low-pressure in the plasma chamber can be as high as 20% of the total energy consumption. This makes the overall efficiency of PlasmaANNEALER at 80% or more, depending on the design of the sealing system.

Q5: What is the processing speed of PlasmaANNEALER?

A5: As a general rule, the output of PlasmaANNEALER can be compared to a 10/20-line tube annealer. The output of plasma annealer can compared be to the outputs of induction and resistive annealers. However, processing speed depends entirely on a specific application. Please contact us on info@plasmait.com to discuss the speeds PlasmaANNEALER can achieve for your application.

Q6: What are the processing costs of PlasmaANNEALER?

A6: PlasmaANNEALER has one of the lowest operations costs when compared to traditional in-line annealing technologies.

Energy consumption is considerably lower when compared to energy consumption of traditional in-line annealing technologies. This is due to high energy efficiency (80% or higher). Energy saving as high as 70% can be achieved when replacing a tube annealer with plasma technology.

The consumption of inert gas is also considerably lower than the consumption of gas in tube annealers. This is due to the fact that the system operates in a low-pressure environment minimising the possibility of uncontrolled leakage.

PlasmaANNEALER is a contact-less machine. This reduces the possibility for physical ware of exposed components in the machine and reduces the risk of wire contamination during the process.

Processing costs depend on application. Please contact us on info@plasmait.com to discuss the processing costs for your application.

Q7: What are the maintenance costs of Plasma Treatment process?

A7: Maintenance of PlasmaANNEALER involves regular replacement of vacuum pump oil and filters. The ashes in the plasma chamber need to be wiped off occasionally depending on the amount of dirt on the wire.

Pre-cleaning is normally installed in front of Plasma Chamber to reduce the amount of surface deposits and soaps entering the Plasma Chamber.

Q8: Can regular maintenance be performed by the operators?

A8: Yes, maintenance of PlasmaANNEALER can be done by the operator that passed a two day basic maintenance course.

Q9: Are there parts of the machine that are subject to ware and require regular maintenance?

A9: PlasmaANNEALER is a contact-less machine, which means that the wire never touches any parts of machine. By the same token, impact of plasma is concentrated only on wire and does not impact any parts of the machine. The parts that require regular maintenance are vacuum filters and oil in the vacuum pumps, electrical contacts and the tube in the plasma chamber. All of these are low cost items.

Q10: Where do the dirt, lubricants, soaps and other surface deposits end up, once they have been removed from the surface in plasma?

A10: Dirty deposits and oxides layers break under the ion bombardment in the plasma chamber or burn at high temperature. The ashes (carbon) are deposited on the bottom of the chamber or in the vacuum pump filters. Volatile components of the residues evaporate into the process gas and are filtered out through the exhaust pipe. The flow from the exhaust pipe is smaller than the exhaust generated from a car. Soaps, lubricants and other contamination are removed from the surface during pre-cleaning.

Q11: Can Plasma Treatment be used on very dirty wires?

A11: Plasma Treatment  is not suitable for very dirty and rusty wires. For dirty applications a pre-cleaning system is recommended to reduce the amount of dirty deposits, lubricants and soaps on the wire surface prior to plasma treatment.

Q12: Is it possible to manipulate the annealing temperature during the operation?

A12: Yes. The temperature or intensity of plasma treatment can be regulated via power input during the process. The power input is automatically adjusted in line with the speed of wire during acceleration and deceleration to maintain homogenous mechanical properties from start to the end of process. If required, mechanical properties of the wire (tensile, elongation) and surface properties can also be manipulated through power input at any point during the process.

Q13: How can the operator control mechanical properties of the finished product? What degree of wire softness can be achieved with plasma annealing?

A13: The softness of the finished wire depends on application and customer requirements. The intensity of annealing process is a function of the time the material spends at annealing temperature. Elongation and tensile of the finished product depend on the time the wire spend at temperature. PlasmaANNEALER can achieve maximum annealing temperature for any application. This means that the softness of the wire ultimately depends on the speed of the wire and the length of the annealing chamber.

Q14: What are the mechanical properties (tensile, elongation and grain size) of the plasma treated wire?

A14: The mechanical and surface properties of the finished wire depend on application. To discuss the mechanical characteristics for your application contact us on info@plasmait.com.

Q15: What is the accuracy of the mechanical properties. What is the standard deviation of elongation of the finished wire?

A15: The more accurate the annealing temperature (power input per mass of material, at a given speed) the more accurate the elongation of the finished product. PlasmaANNEALER regulates annealing temperature very accurately through voltage/power applied to plasma, which results in a very accurate and homogenous mechanical properties. For example, PlasmaANNEALER achieved elongation of 25.5 ±0.5 on a 1mm Copper wire for cables. Nevertheless, the deviation from the required value of elongation/tensile will ultimately depend on deviation of mass throughput i.e. accuracy of wire diameter along the process.

Q16: Is it possible to use Plasma Treatment for different applications / materials / diameters or is the machine limited to a single application / material?

A16: Plasma Treatment can be used for different applications, subject to its design and purpose for which it was built. Plasma Machine has a database of process parameters (prescriptions) for each application. Each prescription determines the pre-set processing parameters e.g. optimal power input, processing speed, process acceleration, gas pressure. Prescriptions are created to achieve the required mechanical (tensile, elongation, deoxidation, and surface quality).

The operator can set the processing parameters manually. This is important when a new application is developed and tested. Once optimised, the operator adds the prescription for the new application into the database for further reference.

Q17: Does PlasmaANNEALER require supervision during operation?

A17: PlasmaANNEALER requires supervision like any other annealer. After the wire is strung-in, the operator closes the safety covers and selects the application from the database of pre-set applications (prescriptions) to start the process. PlasmaANNEALER does not require ongoing manned supervision. Nevertheless, control of the process and its alarms is required as with any other manufacturing line. Online cameras could be installed for remote monitoring.

Q18: What skills and training is required for operation of Plasma Treatment Machine. Can PlasmaANNEALER be operated by an operator of a classic annealing plant?

A18: The operation of PlasmaANNEALER is very similar to operation of any other annealer. The activities surrounding the operation of PlasmaANNEALER are divided into three elements: application set-up, operation and maintenance.

Basic Training is provided as part of installation and commissioning of a Plasma Treatment Machine. This will equip the operator for taking on the operation of a new PlasmaANNEALER.

An additional three day training course prepares the operator for all aspects of machine operation, maintenance and safety.

A seven day advanced training course equips the operator with all aspects of machine operation and safety, advanced manipulation, new application testing, trouble-shooting and advanced maintenance.

Q19: Does Plasmait provide customer support?

A19: Plasmait provides ongoing customers support for all customers. See Customer Support.

Q20: Can Plasma process be used for wire surface cleaning only? Is it possible to minimise the annealing effect whilst maximising the surface treatment (cleaning/polishing) effect of plasma?

A20: Plasmait developed a number of machines that designed for Surface Treatment only. PlasmaGRAPH, PlasmaCLEANER, and PlasmaDEGREASER. These machines are designed to minimise the heating of the wire. The heating effect of plasma is not possible to avoid entirely. However, we are able to manipulate the intensity of annealing vs. the intensity of surface treatment to a large degree. The choice of gas and its pressure in the plasma chamber can substantially influence the balance of heating effect vs. surface treatment. However, the end result is always dependant on the material, its dimensions and its surface condition.

Nevertheless, tests are required to determine optimal processing parameters for a specific application.

Q21: What are the dimensions of PlasmaANNEALER?

A21: The size of PlasmaANNEALER depends on application and the type of cooling system. Our test facility in Lebring (see pictures) is 13m long. The facility involves three plasma chambers for high speed processing and a combined (gas/water cooling section) as well as pre-cleaning unit.

PlasmaANNEALER can be much smaller. A small 10kW machine for Copper wire with water cooling unit could be as short as 3 meters. Vertical designs are possible to further reduce the length of the machine. Please contact us on info@plasmait.com to discuss size of the machine for your application.

Q22: What are the risks associated with plasma technology in wire manufacturing? What safety measures are incorporated in a Plasma Treatment Machine?

A22: The risk associated with plasma technology is limited to high-voltage installations. PlasmaANNEALER has a triple safety measure to prevent a contact with high-voltage installations. A safety guard covers all the high-voltage installations. The process shuts-down automatically if the safety guard is opened or if one of two contact with the wire is compromised. The machine also shuts down automatically in case of wire break or uncontrolled reduction in wire speed.

Plasma emits high energy light such as the light emitted from welding. Direct contact of light emitted from plasma can be harmful. This is why plasma chamber is completely enclosed to prevent light emission into the environment.

Q23: How hot does PlasmaANNEALER get during the operation and what is heat emission into the environment?

A23: Plasma chamber remains cold at all times during the operation. The energy of plasma is released into the wire only. PlasmaANNEALER is a contact-less device, which means that hot wire does not conduct heat to the machine structure. The coolant (gas/water) in the cooling section is the only medium that conducts some heat back to the machine during the cooling process. The cooling section is covered with a guard for the safety of the operator.

Q24: Is plasma dangerous when released from the plasma chamber?

A24: Plasma cannot be released into the environment. Should a leakage occur, plasma would immediately cease to exist due to increased pressure in the plasma chamber.

Q25: Is it possible to test Plasma heat treatment on a specific material / own sample?

A25: Yes. Plasmait has a testing facility in Lebring, Austria. We perform free customer trials for a wide range of applications that include annealing or cleaning of wire. We have experience in plasma treatment on a broad range or materials including Copper and Copper alloys (Brass, Bronze, Silicon Bronze etc.) Steel, Stainless Steel, a range of Nickel alloys, Titanium, Tungsten, Tantalum, Molybdenum, Nitinol, super-conductive materials and others.

Please contact us on info@plasmait.com to discuss a free trial on your samples. Alternatively, please go to PlasmaANNEALER Test Drive to submit your request.

Q26: Does PlasmaANNEALER have ability to accelerate and decelerate its process speed in line with drawing machine (ramp)? Can the wire stop whilst PlasmaANNEALER is in operation?

A26: The power of PlasmaANNEALER is controlled automatically during the acceleration and deceleration to maintain constant and homogenous mechanical properties of the finished wire. PlasmaANNEALER automatically reduces the power input to minimum (virtual zero) when the wire stops. PlasmaANNEALER can be put on a standby (plasma lit up) during idle process.

Q27: What happens if the wire breaks during Plasma Treatment?

A27: Plasma Machine would automatically shut down as a result of loss of contact or detection of unexpected fluctuation of the process.

Q28: What happens if the piece of wire is left in the plasma chamber during string-in?

A27: If the wire piece is small and does not touch the running wire there would be no difference to the operation of the machine nor would this impact the quality of the finished wire. If the wire piece left in the chamber is large and would touch the running wire, the machine would automatically shut down as a result of loss of contact or detection of unexpected fluctuation of the process. NON of these scenarios would result in health and safety risk to the operator.

Q29: What size of wires/tubes/strips can be tested on PlasmaANNEALER?

A28: We conduct trials on tubes, strips and wires of different materials and a wide range of dimensions and shapes.

• Round shape: 0.1mm - 7mm
• Rectangular shape: 0.5 - 4mm
• Strip up 0.5mm – 30mm

Bigger dimensions on request.

Please note that the wire does not touch the sealing system. This allows a range of dimensions and shapes to be processed through the same sealing system.

Please contact us on info@plasmait.com to discuss your application.