LASER-INDUCED SURFACE MODIFICATION AND METALLIZATION OF POLYMERS

Laser-induced surface modification of different polymers is presented as a suitable pretreatment of surfaces in a two-step metallization pro cess. Materials such as polyamide (PA), polypropylene (PP), polystyren e (PS), polycarbonate (PC), acrylbutadienestyrene (ABS), styreneacryln itrile (SAN), polybutadieneterephthalate (PET), and polyoxymethylene ( POM) were treated by excimer-laser radiation at 248 nm in air. The aim of this study is to investigate different processing regimes of surfa ce modification and ablation to increase surface roughness. Therefore, the laser-processing variables fluence F, repetition rate upsilon and pulse number N are varied and the ablation depth, optical penetration depth, absorption coefficient and ablation threshold are determined. The metallization of pretreated (laser, wet chemical and plasma etchin g) polymers is investigated for different surface morphologies. The us ed metallization processes were electroplating and physical vapour dep osition (PVD). The adhesion of the deposited films is measured with sc ratch and tape test methods in order to determine the regimes of suita ble surface modification for metallization.