| 摘要 |
A method of forming a metal coated fibre 2 comprises providing a sputter coating apparatus 10 comprising a deposition chamber 12 containing a filament 6 to be coated and applying a negative direct current biasing voltage to the filament, wherein the bias is alternately pulsed between a high power condition and a low power condition, preferably between -30 to -100V and 0V, at a pulse frequency ranging between 0.1 and 10 Hz. The filament may comprise silicon carbide, alumina or glass fibre and the method may be used to apply a metal coating comprising titanium or titanium alloy. Also disclosed is a metal coated fibre forming apparatus 10, preferably comprising first and second fibre transport assemblies 34, 36 configured to pass a fibre between them to provide a plurality of fibre loops located within a hollow cylindrical cathode 18. The fibre transport assemblies may each comprise a plurality of pulleys comprising a conductive material, a biasing power supply 30 being electrically connected to one or both assemblies. The looped pieces of fibre within the cathode are preferably spaced apart, e.g. at a distance of 5mm, so that there is no interference between the electrical fields caused by the biasing current. |
