| abstract |
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for continuously cleaning a long metal substrate, such as a wire, a band, a cord, etc., the long substrate to be cleaned being led through a vacuum chamber, whereinto an inert sputtering gas, such as argon, is fed, and a sufficiently high voltage being maintained between the substrate as cathode and an anode present in the chamber so that an electric discharge takes place between the two electrodes, as a result of which the substrate is cleaned by inert gas ions precipitating on it during its passage through the vacuum chamber, and the anode being formed by at least one annular electrode, fitted in a long casing of heat-radiation transmitting material and the long substrate being led through the casing in longitudinal direction. The invention further relates to the thus cleaned metal substrates, as well as to the objects of polymer material reinforced therewith. |