THE INFLUENCE OF ADDITIVES ON THE ADHESION BEHAVIOR OF THERMOPLASTIC MATERIALS USED IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

The influence of release agents, impurities and light stabilizers on t he mechanisms of pretreatment operations, such as flame or plasma trea tment, of thermoplastic materials used in the automotive industry has been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), zeta pote ntial and contact angle measurements. It is shown that the presence of release agents on thermoplastic polyurethane can be detected by conta ct angle and zeta potential measurements. Sterically hindered amines ( HALS) used as light stabilizers in polypropylene-ethylene-propylene-di ene monomer rubber blends (PP-EPDM) enhance the result of flame treatm ent whereas the effect of oxygen plasma treatment is not changed by th e presence of HALS products.