Method for cleaning vulcanization mold

摘要

A cleaning method for realizing uniform ashing of residues at a high efficiency by uniformly injecting neutral active species directly toward the surfaces of vulcanization residues left on a vulcanization mold is described. The method includes setting a ring-shaped cavity in face-to-face reaction with the inner surfaces of a ring-shaped vulcanization mold (15) in a vacuum treating vessel(1), transmitting a microwave in the cavity (7), and emitting the microwave via a number of coupling slots formed in the outer side of the cavity (7) toward the inner surfaces (15s) of the vulcanization mold (15) whereupon a reaction gas is injected in the space of the treating vessel between the inner surfaces (15s) of the vulcanization mold and the cavity (7), so that a plasma including a major proportion of neutral active species generated from the reaction gas and the emitted microwave, and the elastomer residue is ashed by means of at least one gas selected from the plasma gas and a neutral active species-containing gas. A microwave generator useful for the method is also described.