Meaglow’s
10th hollow cathode gas plasma source, to be sent to South Korea through our agent, Paultec, was machined from Inconel, nickel and other nickel based alloys. The unit is to be used with fluorine based gases, and stainless steel is not resistant to chlorine and fluorine. Nickel and nickel alloys are the way to go with those gas plasmas. Even the Viton O-rings that we normally use had to be replaced – Kalrez O-rings will be used instead.
The NW50 style nipple was manufactured from a solid piece of C-276 Hastelloy, an extremely hard material that took two and a half days to machine. The coolant had to be replaced at least once as it was overheating. From receiving the order to getting this custom made series 50 plasma source out the door it only took 22 days.