Atmospheric Plasma Surface Activation of High Strength Steels for Electroplating

The current surface activation process used to activate the surface of landing gear parts uses an aggressive grit blasting technique prior to electroplating. This technique is effective, but requires large amounts of blast media, requires a pre-cleaned surface and the process removes up to 0.1mils of substrate, much more than necessary. There is an urgent need for a process that can easily and effectively activate surfaces for electroplating without removing more than a few atoms of substrate. Atmospheric Plasma Solutions, Inc. (APS) has developed an Atmospheric Plasma Surface Treatment (APST) technology that can quickly and effectively surface activate a wide variety of substrates using only air and electricity by producing a cold, atmospheric pressure plasma beam which is directed at the surface to be activated. Any organic surface contaminants and loose inorganic debris is etched away leaving a nearly atomically clean surface. This proposed effort will focus on development of a conceptual design of this application, demonstrating the feasibility of the approach, and ensuring the ability of the APST process to meet stated DoD requirements. This effort will also lay the groundwork for subsequent scale-up of the process and further engineering development.