Density of O-atoms in an Afterglow Reactor During Treatment of Wool

• DOI: 10.1007/s11090-007-9078-y
• Publication Date: 2007-07-25T19:22:55Z
• Authors: Cristina Canal; Freddy Gaboriau; Andre Ricard; Miran Mozetic; Uros Cvelbar; Aleksander Drenik
• Keywords: Power density

Density of neutral oxygen atoms in the ground state has been measured during treatment of wool fabric samples. Samples were placed in an afterglow reactor with a volume of about 5 l, which was pumped with a two stage rotary pump with the nominal pumping speed of 28 m3/h. The source of the oxygen atoms was a microwave discharge operating in the surfatron mode at 2.45 GHz and adjustable output power up to 300 W. The density of O-atoms in the afterglow chamber was measured with a fiber-optics catalytic probe. For the empty reactor, the O density depended on discharge parameters and was between 0.8 and 2.8 × 1021 m−3 at 40 and 50 Pa respectively. During the treatment of wool, the O density depended largely on the exposure time. For untreated samples, the O density was below the detection limit of the probe, while prolonged treatment allowed for recovering the O density. The recovery always occurred after having submitted wool samples to the dose of the order of 1023 atoms/m2. The results were explained by oxidation of the thin lipid layer on the surface of the wool fibres.