Polyethylene surface

Figure 14 shows the ATR spectrum of the etched polyethylene surface treated with a chronic acid group [76]. Absorption bands due to surface treatment appear at 3300, 1700, 1260, 1215, and 1050 cm". The band at 3300 cm represents the absorption due to the hydroxyl group and that at 1700 cm " is due to the carbonyl group. The bands at 1260, 1215, and 1050 cm are all due to the alkyl sulfonate group. 

A similar approach was used in grafting Cjq onto a pregenerated lithiated polyethylene surface [121]. A polyethylene film with terminal diphenylmethyl groups was deprotonated with BuLi to yield an anionic polyethylene surface that was treated with Cg0 and quenched with methanol. The incorporation at the polyethylene surface was determined by XPS, UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. This reaction also works for polyisopropene, polybutadiene [69], poly(vinylbenzyl chloride) or poly(N-vinylcarbazole) PVK [54] with BuLi or NaH as a base. Charge-transfer interactions in the soluble fullerene-PVK derivative between the positively charged carbazole and Cjq lead to an enhanced photoconductivity compared with PVK [54]. 

Alvarez S, Manolache S, Denes F (2003) Synthesis of polyaniline using horseradish peroxidase immobilized on plasma-functionalized polyethylene surfaces as initiator. J Appl Polym Sci 88(2) 369-379... 

Fig. 13.3.5 Typical SEM photographs of the dry impact blending (a) diy impact blending of silica (0.3 pm) and polyethylene (2-15 pm) (b) silica arrangement on polyethylene surface, (c) Pollen grain of Clintonia udensis. (From N Miyoshi, Okayama University of Science, with permission.)...

Fig. 13.3.7 Typical SEM photographs of a bare polyethylene surface and silica arrangements, embedded in epoxy resin after fracture (a and d) detached silica (0.3 p,m) arrangement after fracture (b) silica (0.3 p,m) arrangement before fracture (c) bare polyethylene surface after fracture (10 p,m).

Fluorination of polyethylene surfaces leads to an increase in the surface energy, some degree of cross-linking and a reduction of the free volume of the polymer. All of these effects impart on the surface of the polymer a barrier that is very impermeable to hydrocarbon solvents. A blow-moulding process, in which a low concentration of fluorine in nitrogen is used as the blow-moulding gas, is used for the production of plastic fuel tanks for the automotive industry (Airopak , Air Products) [51]. Post-treatment of hydrocarbon surfaces with fluorine is an alternative technology and techniques for the surface fluorination of natural and synthetic rubber have been described [52]. 

Zisman discovered that there is a critical surface tension characteristic of low-energy solids, such as plastics and waxes. Liquids ihat have a lower surface tension than the solid will spread on that solid, while liquids with a higher surface tension will not spread. Examples of critical surface tension values for plastic solids in dynes per cm are "Teflon/ 18 polyethylene, 31 polyethylene terephthalate, 43 and nylon, 42-46. As one indication of the way this information can be used in practical applications, one can consider the bonding of nylon to polyethylene. If nylon were applied as a melt to polyethylene, it would not wet the lower-energy polyethylene surface and adhesion would be poor. However, molten polyethylene would spread readily over solid nylon to provide a strong bond. 

Figure 5d. Depth Profile of Polyethylene Surface - Mercury Radiation Induced Photoelectron Neutralization...

Keywords Polyethylene Surface modification Characterisation Grafting Radiation... 

So far, emphasis has been placed on the treatment of polyolefins to improve printability, but the same treatments affect also other processes. As an example, while an untreated polyethylene surface will not retain an adhesive the treated and modified surfaces are receptive to adhesives. A field of increasing importance for packaging is the production of laminates of film with other materials and, as examples, suitably pre-treated polyethylene film can be bonded securely to substrates such as cellulose or polyester films and aluminium foil, using standard adhesives, whereas this cannot be achieved without pre-treatment. 

Keywords Contact angle Cross-linked LDPE Photosulfonation Polyethylene Surface modification Zeta potential... 

Strong joints with epoxy adhesives can be made to polyethylene surfaces which have been oxidized by a variety of techniques (4, 5). The general belief has been that the presence of polar groups on the polymer surface creates an affinity for the polar epoxy adhesive which improves wettability and results in a strong adhesive joint. 

Figure 6. A Fowkes-Young plot of the wettability data for a variety of polyethylene surfaces...

A novel device was designed to estimate the dislodgeability of dust-associated pesticide residues by skin contact (Edwards and Lioy, 1999). Called the EL Sampler , the device consists of a spring-loaded assembly that permits the sampling medium to be pressed lightly (12g/cm or 1160 Pa) onto the surface to be monitored. A 10-cm x 15-cm Empore C-18 extraction membrane was used for the sampling medium. The material was chosen after controlled experiments on particle adhesion showed it to pick up the same distribution of test dust particle sizes as the human hand. In studies in which the EL sampler was pressed onto polyethylene surfaces coated with house dust and then sprayed with a solution of pesticides in 2-propanol, the device was found to collect 35%, 31 %, 32% and 18 %, respectively, of chlorpyrifos, diazinon (0,0-diethyl 0-[6-methyl-2-(l-methylethyl)-4-pyrimidinyl] phosphorothioate), malathion and atrazine (6-chloro-A -ethyl-A -isopropyl-l,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine). Parallel studies with human hand presses (full hand at 6.8 kg = ca. 6900 Pa) yielded collection efficiencies of 42 %, 29 %, 43 % and 21 %, respectively. 

Hydrocarbon polymers that were exposed in the LEO environment invariably showed an increase in surface oxide content. For example, the oxygen atomic concentration on a polyethylene surface increased by roughly 10 percent during exposure in LEO. And similar exposures of polystyrene and Kapton led to an increase in surface oxygen atomic concentration of approximately 20 percent and three percent, respectively. 67... 

Wilson, at Bishop College, and Eberhart and Elkowitz at University of Texas (27) have irradiated a silicone substrate in the presence of chloromethylstyrene monomer to produce a reactive graft polymer that can be quarternized with pyridine and reacted with sodium heparin to produce a thromboresistant heparinized product that has a higher blood compatibility than the untreated silicone. The same group has used essentially the same methods to create a heparin grafted polyethylene surface. 

Thus, for example, in the presence of some highly fluorinated carboxylic acids and their salts, the value yc for polyethylene is decreased from its usual value of almost 31 mN/m to about 20 mN/m (Bernett, 1959) by adsorption of the fluorinated surfactants onto the polyethylene surface, with the result that solutions of these surfactants having surface tensions less than the normal yc for polyethylene do not spread on it. The requirement that the surface tension of the wetting liquid be reduced by the surfactant to some critical value characteristic of the substrate is thus a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for complete spreading wetting. A surfactant solution whose surface tension is above the critical tension for the substrate does not produce complete wetting, but a solution whose surface tension is below the critical tension for the substrate may or may not produce complete wetting (Schwarz, 1964). 

Polyspend. [U.S. Cosmetics] Polyethylene surface treatment for cosmetics. 

Gerenser, L. J. "An X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Study of Chemical Interactions at Silver/Plasma-Modified Polyethylene Surfaces Correlations with Adhesion." Journal of Vacuum Science Technology A-Vacuum Surfaces and Films 6 (1988) 2897-903. 

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