Surface properties of HMDSO plasma treated polyethylene terephthalate

HMDSO plasma polymer films are known to reduce the resulting surface free energy and the permeation rate of water vapour and oxygen through the treated polymer substrates. In this work, plasma polymer films were deposited from hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) on polyethylene terephthalate surfaces under different operating conditions and the resulting surface proper-ties were investigated. The structure and bondings in the deposited films were studied by means of IR spectroscopy. The thickness of the deposited films was deduced observing images acquired with a focused ion beam (FIB). Hydrophobic performances were investigated by means of water droplet contact angle measurements. Correlation between operating deposition conditions and resulting structure and surface properties of the films were also discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.