PLASMA POLYMERIZATION OF SELECTED ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS

Plasma polymerization reactions and plasma polymers of xylene/air, xyl ene/argon, xylene/air/argon, toluene/air/argon, dioxane and allyl cyan ide were compared with respect to discharge power (between 50 and 500 W), where all other plasma operational parameters were kept constant. In plasma polymerization, the glow characteristics are known to play a n important role depending on the factor W/F,where W is the discharge power and Fis the monomer flow rate. In plasma polymerization reaction s, it is known that decomposition of the monomer and/or polymer produc ed competes with polymer formation. Above a certain power level, polym er decomposition may become the predominant reaction, and hence polyme r deposition rates decrease with increasing discharge power. The plasm a polymer films were characterized by Fourier transform infra-red spec troscopy, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. Infra-red spectra of the plasma polymers obtained indicated that when the disch arge power was increased, the absorption intensities of all the functi onal groups decreased. The deposition rates and chemical structures of the plasma polymers prepared appeared to depend strongly on the struc ture and characteristics of the monomer used and on the conditions of discharge and other operational parameters.