Atmospheric discharge surface modification

Basic Principles of Atmospheric Discharge Surface Modification Technologies... 

With the advent of readily available non-paper substrates (plastics and foils) in the mid-to-late 1950s, the requirement for reliable production speed surface treatment processes became apparent. Several different technologies were developed and evaluated, but only one, corona treatment, has become the primary surface treatment technology used across the converting and extrusion industries worldwide. The development of corona treatment as the leading surface treatment method will be traced, followed by detailing of what is the current state-of-the-art in atmospheric discharge surface modification equipment, control parameters, and applications. 

A critical design objective relative to 3-D atmospheric discharge surface modification devices is to optimize decoration and coating adhesion through the discharge of necessary energy and velocity to... 

Tsai PP, Wadsworth LC, Roth JR (1997) Surface modification of fabrics using a one-atmosphere glow discharge plasma to improve fabric wettability. Text Res J 67(5) 359-369 Noeske M et al (2004) Plasma jet treatment of five polymers at atmospheric pressure surface modifications and the relevance for adhesion. Int J Adhes Adhes 24(2) 171-177 Shenton MJ, Stevens GC (2001) Surface modification of polymer surfaces atmospheric plasma versus vacuum plasma treatments. J Phys D Appl Phys 34(18) 2761-2768 Baltazar-Y-Jimenez A et al (2008) Atmospheric air pressure plasma treatment of lignocellu-losic fibres Impact on mechanical properties and adhesion to cellulose acetate butyrate. Compos Sci Technol 68(l) 215-227... 

Bente, M., Avramidis, G., Forster, S., Rohwer, E.G. and Viol, W. (2004). Wood surface modification in dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure for creating water repellent characteristics. Holz alsRoh- und Werkstoff, 62(3), 157-163. 

Rehn, P. and Viol, W. (2003). Dielectric barrier discharge treatments at atmospheric pressure for wood surface modification. Holz. als Roh- und Werkstoff, 61(2), 145-150. 

As a special source of particles, low-temperature plasmas are included in this section, which strictly speaking are sources of ionized atoms or molecules as well as photons and electrons that all may interact with the polymer. In addition to well-established low-pressure plasma sources, corona discharge or recently developed atmospheric pressure plasma sources may be used for surface modification. 

The surface modification of the ground rubber tire (GRT) powder was found to be suitable for enhancement of its adhesion to nitrile rubber (NBR) vulcanizates (Zhang et al., 2009c). By use of the atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge, the hydrophobic surface of the powder transformed to a hydrophilic one as shown by the water contact angle, ATR-FTIR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) studies. After atmospheric plasma treatment, the improvement in the tensile strength and tear strength was observed for the modified tire powder-filled NBR vulcanizates. The latter was attributed to the enhanced interfacial interaction between modified GRT and NBR matrix. 

Biaxially oriented polypropylene [BOPP] surface modification by nitrogen atmospheric pressure glow discharge [APDD] and by air corona. Plasmas Polymers, Vol. 7, pp. 71-88, ISSN 1084-0184. 

Sarra-Bournet, C, Poulin, S., Piyakis, K., Turgeon, S., Laroche, G. (2010) ToF-SIMS multivariate characterization of surface modification of polymers by N2H2 atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge. Surf. Interface Anal., 42,102-109. 

Babukutty, Y. Prat, R. Endo, K. Kogoma, M. Okazaki, S. Kodama, M. (1999). Poly(vinyl chloride) surface modification using tetrafluoroethylene in atmospheric pressure glow discharge. Langmuir, Vol. 15, pp. 7055-7062... 

Detavemier, C., Dendooven, J., Sree, S.P., Ludwig, K.F., Martens, J.A., 2011. Tailoring nanoporous materials by atomic layer deposition. Chem. Soc. Rev. 40, 5242—5253. Dobbs, H.S., 1982. Fracture of titanium orthopaedic implants. J. Mater. Sci. 17, 2398—2404. Doherty, K.G., Oh, J.-S., Unsworth, P., Bowfield, A., Sheridan, C.M., Weightman, P., Bradley, J.W., Williams, R.L., 2013. Polystyrene surface modification for localized cell culture using a capillary dielectric barrier discharge atmospheric-pressure microplasma jet. Plasma Processes Polym. 10, 978—989. 

Surface modification of polymers involves altering the characteristics of the material. A polymer may be given a low surface tension by fluorinating the surface, or a reactive surface may be introduced. For example, the surface may be exposed to plasma or corona treatments. A plasma is defined as a partially ionized gas, with equal number densities of electrons and positive ions (98). A corona involves a controlled discharge of electrons. Depending on the atmosphere and/or ions used, the surface of a polymer may be oxidized or specific moieties placed on the surface. Thus the bondability of polymers to a surface can be altered significantly. 

Due to their remote operation, plasma jets are particularly suited for treatment of three-dimensional (3D) structures and for selective surface modifications of specific parts. The treatment of plastics by small-sized atmospheric plasma jet sources based on RF discharges was reported in Ref. [44]. 

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