Polishing Inner Surface of Dies with a Beam of Fast Argon Atoms

The removal of defective surface layers can substantially improve the quality of various products. It can be carried out using beams of accelerated ions or fast argon atoms. However, it is difficult to process the inner surface of narrow channels. In the present work, a narrow beam of fast argon atoms is used to sputter and polish the inner surface of drawing dies with 5.7 mm wide working channels. Due to the high angle of incidence to the channel walls, sputtering with fast argon atoms decreased their roughness to Ra ~ 0.004 µm.