Effects of operating parameters on plasma-induced PET surface treatment

Plasma treatment is widely used to modify the surface properties of polymers, since it is a versatile, fast and environmentally benign technology. Different types of plasma sources can be utilized for surface modification, however, dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) have received much attention due to their great flexibility. Therefore, in this paper, a DBD operating in air at medium pressure is used to modify the surface of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film. The influence of the main operating parameters (discharge power, gas flow, pressure and frequency) on the surface properties is studied in detail using contact angle measurements. Results show that the efficiency of the surface treatment increases with increasing discharge power, increasing pressure and decreasing gas flow. Results also show that the frequency of the discharge has no influence on the treatment efficiency. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.