Guan-Jun Zhang

Thickness dependent critical strain in submicron Cu films adherent to polymer substrate

For the polymer-supported metal thin films that are finding increasing applications, the critical strain to nucleate microcracks (eC) should be more meaningful than generally measured rupture strain. In this letter, the eC values of polymer-supported Cu films are simply but precisely determined by measurements of both electrical resistance and statistical microcrack density changes on the film surface. Significant thickness dependence of eC, i.e., the thinner the film the lower the eC, has been revealed for the Cu films with a thickness range from 700 down to 60nm, which is suggested to result from the constraint effect of refining grain size on the dislocation movability.

Chemical Mechanisms of Bacterial Inactivation Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma in Atmospheric Air

Nonthermal plasma generated by parallel-plate dielectric-barrier discharge with 60-kHz high-voltage power was used to sterilize the bacteria in atmospheric air. Two kinds of typical bacteria, gram-negative E. coli (ATCC8099) and grampositive S. aureus (ATCC6538), were used as test strains. Bacteria cells held by cover-glass were placed on the bottom electrode. By adjusting the applied voltage, gap spacing, and treatment time, the effects of plasma and electric field on bacteria inactivation were investigated. The transmission electron microscope was used to observe the damage of cells treated by plasma. The concentrations of K+, protein, and nucleic acid leaked from cells were measured for detecting the cytoplasm status after plasma treatment. Experimental results showed that almost 100% of S. aureus and E. coli strains were killed in less than 10- and 7-s plasma treatment, respectively. It is concluded that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plasma play a dominant role in the inactivation process but not the electric field. It is supposed that the ROS can oxidize the cell membrane and then damage the protein and nucleic acid inside the cells and, thus, kill the bacteria.

Investigation on dielectric response characteristics of thermally aged insulating pressboard in vacuum and oil-impregnated ambient

Dielectric response measurements are non-invasive and promising diagnostic methods that are being gradually used for assessing the insulation and aging condition of transformer oil-paper insulation system. It is known that moisture content in oil-impregnated insulation has significant effect on its dielectric response phenomena, and whereas at present there is few research about the characteristics of aged cellulose without the impact of water. In this work, a series of experiments are designed and carried out in well-controlled laboratory. Accelerated thermal aging is performed on oil-immersed pressboard samples with different time intervals (0, 120, 250 and 400 h). Then these pressboard samples with different aging states are put into petroleum ether to remove the residual oil inside, and dried in a vacuum oven to remove the petroleum ether and moisture. The degree of polymerization (DP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) are implemented to characterize the aging status of pressboard samples. Two kinds of dielectric response tests, i.e., the polarization and depolarization currents (PDC) and frequency domain spectroscopy (FDS), are performed on each oil/water-removed pressboard sample in vacuum and new-oil-impregnated ambient, respectively. Samples with different aging states show quite different dielectric response characteristics in both ambients. With the aging status more serious, the pressboard sample exhibits higher values of polarization/depolarization currents and complex capacitances. It is confirmed that, besides the influence of water induced by aging, the deterioration of cellulose itself also causes the increasing of pressboard conductivity, and hence greatly affects the PDC and FDS test results. Dielectric response diagnostic techniques have a potential to reflect the aging information of solid insulation.

DBD Plasma Jet in Atmospheric Pressure Argon

Nonthermal plasma jet was generated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) with a 34-kHz sinusoidal power supply in argon. The power consumption ranged from several to tens of watts. The flow rate of argon, which was detected by an anemometer, greatly affected the discharge images. The gas flow temperature of the DBD plasma was measured with a thermocouple, and it was shown that, when the flow rate of argon was relatively high, its temperature was similar to room temperature and the plasma jet indicated the glow discharge characteristics. The low-temperature plasma jet is suitable for medical sterilization and surface modification of materials with irregular shapes.

Effect of Low-Temperature Plasma on Microorganism Inactivation and Quality of Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

Dielectric barrier discharge is used to generate low temperature plasma (LTP) for the treatment of freshly squeezed orange juice, which was inoculated with and without three kinds of microorganisms, respectively. Four experiments were designed and conducted: 1) When freshly squeezed orange juice samples inoculated with either Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, or Candida albicans were treated with LTP for 12,8, and 25 s, respectively, the numbers of each microorganism decreased more than 5 logs; 2) when orange juices without the aforementioned microor ganism inoculation were treated with LTP for inactivating original microorganisms inside and then stored at 4°C refrigeration, the total plate count and the proliferation rate of original microor ganism were both reduced significantly (counting per each 4-d during storage); 3) when orange juice samples without microor ganism inoculation were treated with LTP, the LTP treatment had insignificant effect on the values of vitamin C, total acid, turbidity,°Brix, and pH of orange juice; 4) when orange juice samples were inoculated with S. aureus, E. coli, or C. albicans, respectively, and their pH values were slightly decreased by adding HC1 (similar to that after LTP treatment), there was no obvious inactivation effects due to the reduction of pH values. It was proposed that microorganism inactivation was mainly due to reactive species and charged particles instead of slight pH reduction, and LTP treatment was able to effectively inactivate microbes and maintain the quality of orange juice.

Correlation between trapping parameters and surface insulation strength of solid dielectric under pulse voltage in vacuum

As well known, the surface conditions of solid materials strongly affect the flashover phenomena under high electric field. The artificial doping ingredients could change the energy distribution and the density of electron and hole traps. The trapping parameters in the surface layer have some influences on the surface insulation strength. In order to adjust different trapping parameters, the composite materials of epoxy resin intermingled with aluminum hydroxide are prepared. The trapping parameters of the samples with different filler concentrations are investigated through the method of measuring the surface potential based on the isothermal current theory. The surface insulation performance in vacuum of each sample is tested according to the flashover voltage under pulsed excitation. Based on the experiment, the correlation between the trapping parameters and surface insulation strength is discussed and some novel models are presented

Comparative study on the atmospheric pressure plasma jets of helium and argon

Formation mechanisms for atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJ) of He and Ar are investigated by comparing the discharge current, light emission from jet, and time-resolved image of the discharge. A longer jet of He (Ar) is available with active (ground) electrode sitting at downstream side. The jet of He outside active electrode arises from corona discharge, while that of Ar outside ground electrode results from charge overflow, and can be diffusive or filamentous in different phases of the applied voltage. The underlying mechanisms are discussed. These results can be helpful for the further mechanism investigation and implementation of APPJs.

Effects of paper-aged state on space charge characteristics in oil-impregnated paper insulation

Oil-paper compound insulation has been widely used in power transformers for quite a long time because of its good performance. The paper insulation degrades under the combined stresses of thermal, electrical and chemical stresses during routine operations, resulting in the reduction of its degree of polymerization (DP) and hence its mechanical and electrical strength. Space charges in a dielectric material have a close relation to its electrical performance. Therefore, in this work, the effect of paper-aged states (with different DP values) on the space charge behavior in oil-impregnated paper insulation is investigated, and the pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) method is used for the space charge distribution measurement. In order to achieve this purpose, new oil-impregnated paper samples are thermally-accelerated aged for different time interval to obtain different DP values, and then the residual oil in each sample is removed, and the Kraft paper samples are dried in a vacuum dry oven. After that, all paper samples are impregnated with new oil, and PEA measurements are performed at room temperature. The experimental results show that, when the external dc voltage is applied on the oil-paper sample, homo-charge injection occurs for all samples. The samples with different aging states exhibit quite different space charge characteristics for both voltage-on and voltage-off conditions. When the aged states are worse, for voltage-on condition, more charges are induced at cathode and anode, as well as more space charges are accumulated in the bulk. For voltage-off condition, the space charge decay rate shows no obvious change for different aged samples.

Research on Surface Modification of Polytetrafluoroethylene Coupled With Argon Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Jet Characteristics

An argon dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ) is designed and employed for surface modification of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The plasma diagnostics and dielectric surface analysis are coupled together to investigate the mechanisms of plasma modification. The discharge power is obtained by Lissajous figure, and electron excitation temperature (EET) is measured through an optical emission spectrum and calculated by a Boltzmann diagrammatic method. The surface properties of modified PTFE samples are characterized by the static contact angle, surface resistivity, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that the discharge power, EET, and surface wettability increase with the Ar flowing rate, and a slight decrease of surface resistivity is revealed after plasma treatment. The surface roughness of PTFE is enhanced, and the oxygen-containing hydrophilic groups are incorporated by the impacts of APPJ radical species. Moreover, the hydrophilicity of PTFE can be improved by a surface presanding process, particularly after APPJ treatment. Finally, the surface modification mechanisms of APPJ on PTFE are discussed.

Dual effects of atmospheric pressure plasma jet on skin wound healing of mice.

Cold plasma has become an attractive tool for promoting wound healing and treating skin diseases. This article presents an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) generated in argon gas through dielectric barrier discharge, which was applied to superficial skin wounds in BALB/c mice. The mice (n = 50) were assigned randomly into five groups (named A, B, C, D, E) with 10 animals in each group. Natural wound healing was compared with stimulated wound healing treated daily with APPJ for different time spans (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 seconds) on 14 consecutive days. APPJ emission spectra, morphological changes in animal wounds, and tissue histological parameters were analyzed. Statistical results revealed that wound size changed over the duration of the experimental period and there was a significant interaction between experimental day and group. Differences between group C and other groups at day 7 were statistically significant (p < 0.05). All groups had nearly achieved closure of the untreated control wounds at day 14. The wounds treated with APPJ for 10, 20, 30, and 40 seconds showed significantly enhanced daily improvement compared with the control and almost complete closure at day 12, 10, 7, and 13, respectively. The optimal results of epidermal cell regeneration, granulation tissue hyperplasia, and collagen deposition in histological aspect were observed at day 7. However, the wounds treated for 50 seconds were less well healed at day 14 than those of the control. It was concluded that appropriate doses of cold plasma could inactivate bacteria around the wound, activate fibroblast proliferation in wound tissue, and eventually promote wound healing. Whereas, over doses of plasma suppressed wound healing due to causing cell death by apoptosis or necrosis. Both positive and negative effects may be related to the existence of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS) in APPJ.