Influence of Plasma Chamber Set-Up on the Surface Modification of Non-Vulcanized and Pure SBR Rubber Treated at Radio-Frequencies Air Plasma

Non-vulcanized styrene-butadiene rubber thin films were exposed to Radio-Frequency low-pressure air plasma. Two different configurations corresponding to direct and downstream RF plasmas were compared. Optical emission spectroscopy provided information about plasma composition and temperature. The plasma treated SBR surfaces were characterized by contact angles and XPS spectroscopy. Two different phenomenological mechanisms are proposed to describe the observed differences according to the plasma configuration used and account for the impact of the activated gas phase on the structure of plasma-treated non-vulcanized SBR surface