A novel aqueous plasma electrolysis for carbon fiber

The present communication reported a novel aqueous plasma electrolysis applied for depositing a uniform and continuous ceramic coating on each fiber within a carbon fiber bundle. All equally spaced tungsten wires generated plasma arc, where the plasma was overlapped, excluded and extruded each other, finally a cylindrical plasma arc zone was formed, promoting the full coverage of the coating on each fiber. It can be clearly seen that the Y₂O₃ coating on the carbon fiber was relatively dense and uniform with the thickness of ∼100 nm. By the movement of the T300 carbon fiber bundle, we successfully realized 1500 m coated carbon fiber bundle with the high-quality Y₂O₃ coating deposited on each fiber. The plasma electrolysis mechanism was discussed based on the electrochemical theory and the condition of plasma discharge. We believe that the novel aqueous plasma electrolysis will find a wide range of applications in modifying the interface of the carbon fiber reinforced composites.