Bonding of activated ethylene-propylene rubber to surface-modified stainless steel

Film formation of self synthesized Polymer EPM-g-VTMDS (ethylene-propylene rubber, EPM, grafted with vinyltetramethyldisiloxane, VTMDS) was studied regarding bonding to adhesion promoter vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS) on oxidized 18/10 chromium/nickel-steel (V2A) stainless steel surfaces. Polymer films of different mixed solutions including commercial siloxane and silicone, dimethyl, vinyl group terminated crosslinker (HANSA SFA 42100, CAS# 68083-19-2, 0.35 mmol Vinyl/g) and platinum, 1,3-diethenyl-1,1,3,3-tetramethyldi-siloxane complex Karstedt's catalyst (ALPA-KAT 1, CAS# 68478-92-2) were spin coated on V2A stainless steel surfaces with adsorbed VTMS thin layers in order to analyze film formation of EPM-g-VTMDS at early stages. Surface topography and chemical bonding of the high performance polymers on different oxidized V2A surfaces were investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). AFM and SEM as well as XPS results indicated that the formation of the polymer film proceeds via growth of polymer islands. Chemical sig-natures of the essential polymer contributions, linker and polymer backbones, could be identified using XPS core level peak shape analysis and also SERS. The appearance of signals which are related to Si-O-Si can be seen as a clear indication of lateral crosslinking and silica network formation in the films on the V2A surface.

Automated summary

The film formation of self synthesized Polymer EPM-g-VTMDS on V2A stainless steel surfaces with adhesion promoter VTMS was studied. Polymer films were spin coated on surfaces with adsorbed VTMS thin layers to analyze the film formation at early stages. The surface topography and chemical bonding were investigated using various techniques, and the formation of polymer islands and the crosslinking and silica network in the films were observed.