IMPROVEMENT IN POLYMER ADHESIVITY BY LOW AND NORMAL-PRESSURE PLASMA SURFACE MODIFICATION

The adhesivity of polyolefines and polyesters may be improved by expos ure to preferably oxidizing plasmas of low pressure glow discharges. T he results of polymer surface modification employing three different t ypes of plasma jet (arc, spare and corona) are compared with those of d.c. and r.f. glow discharge modification. The adhesion of polypropyle ne and poly(ethyleneterephthalate) treated with atmospheric pressure p lasma to polyurethane on aluminium achieves the technical requirements . However, low pressure plasma modification results in maximum adhesio n. To compare the chemical processes occurring during low and atmosphe ric pressure plasma exposure on the polypropylene surface some efforts have been made to identify the plasma-introduced groups by employing functional group labelling by derivatization and X-ray photoelectron s pectroscopy analysis.