Effect of Plasma on Adhesion Characteristics of High Performance Polymers: A Critical Review

Major industrial sectors like automotive, aerospace and others are increasingly using adhesively bonded high performance polymers in their structural parts. Unfortunately, the surface of polymers is chemically inert and, therefore, exhibits poor adhesion properties. It is established that for successful application of polymeric materials to form structural parts using adhesive bonding, they need to have certain surface properties like polarity/high surface energy. This review article discusses the effect of modifying polymer surfaces by different plasma techniques on the surface energy and surface roughness of the polymers which play an important role in improving adhesive bond strength.