# Multiphysics Simulation for Efficient and Reliable Systems for Low-Temperature Plasma Treatment of Metals

## TL;DR

This paper presents a multiphysics simulation approach to improve low-temperature plasma treatment of metals for better hardness and wear resistance.

## Contribution

A novel multiphysics model coupling electromagnetic, fluid flow, and thermal processes in plasma nitriding chambers is developed and validated.

## Key findings

- Three-dimensional fields of pressure, temperature, and electric current were simulated and analyzed.
- The gas mixture's electrical conductivity was calibrated using an electrical model and in situ measurements.
- The study proposes methods for enhancing plasma treatment technologies through model development and application.

## Abstract

Plasma nitriding is an advanced method to increase the hardness and wear resistance of different metal parts with complex shapes and geometries. The modelling is an appropriate approach for better understanding and improving such technologies based on multi-physical processes. Mathematical models of the coupled electromagnetic, fluid flow, and thermal processes in vacuum chambers for the low-temperature plasma treatment of metal parts have been developed. They were solved numerically via ANSYS/CFX software for a discretized solid and gas space of a plasma nitriding chamber. The specific electrical conductivity of the gas mixture, containing plasma, has been calibrated on the basis of an electrical model of the chamber and in situ measurements. The three-dimensional fields of pressure, temperature, velocity, turbulent characteristics, electric current density, and voltage in the chamber have been simulated and analysed. Methods for further development and application of the models and for technological and constructive enhancement of the plasma treatment technologies are discussed.