Preparation, characterization and annealing behavior of nanostructured Al2O3 coating on quartz fiber by non-electrode plasma synthesis

Abstract In the present manuscript the patented non-electrode plasma electrolysis technique was successfully applied in order to deposit nano-structured Al2O3 ceramic coating on the quartz fiber. It was found that the grooves on the blank fiber were covered by Al2O3, accordingly decreasing the surface defects. In this case, the coating effectively improved the breaking strength of the quartz fiber at elevated temperatures. The coated fiber still exhibited relatively higher strength of 0.38 N/tex after annealing at 600 °C for 60 min, nearly three times as that of the blank fiber. Both the formation mechanism and the protection mechanism of the Al2O3 coating were systematically investigated. We believe that the non-electrode plasma electrolysis will find a wide range of applications in the surface modification of non-conductive fibers.