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SOFT PLASMA TREATMENT OF POLYMER SURFACES

S. Kitova1,* , M. Minchev1, G. Danev1

Affiliation

  1. Central Laboratory of Photoprocesses“Acad. J .Malinowski”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev str., bl.109, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract

The effect of Ar, Ar/H2O and Ar/C2H5OH soft plasma treatments on the surface free energy of poly(methyl metacrylate) (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC) has been studied. The plasma gas was excited by a 13.56 MHz radio frequency (RF) generator, in a GENUS 8720 plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition facility. Changes in the surface free energy of the polymers were followed as a function of the plasma treatment time. Bickerman’s method for precise measurements of contact angles of very small liquid sessile drops in contact with substrates was used to determinate the polar and dispersion components of the polymer free surface energy, on the basis of the theory of Owens, Wendt, Kaelble and Uy. It was found that all RF plasma treatments led to an increase in the polar component of PMMA and PC, mainly due to an increased hydrogen bonding ability. Short (1-5 min) Ar/C2H5OH and Ar/H2O plasma treatments exhibited the same effectiveness, greater than that of pure Ar treatment. It was observed that the introduction of ethanol in plasma gas resulted in more uniform, defect free and undamaged, polymer surfaces compared to those modified with pure Ar or Ar/water plasma gas..

Keywords

RF plasma treatment, Surface energy, Polymers, PMMA, PC.

Submitted at: Dec. 9, 2004
Accepted at: Jan. 26, 2005

Citation

S. Kitova, M. Minchev, G. Danev, SOFT PLASMA TREATMENT OF POLYMER SURFACES, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 7, Iss. 1, pp. 249-252 (2005)