Functional finishing of nonwoven fabrics.: I.: Accessibility of surface modified PET spunbond by atmospheric pressure He/O2 plasma treatment

The surface of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) spunbond nonwoven was modified by using atmospheric pressure He/O-2 plasma treatment. Accessibility of the modified PET nonwoven has been investigated in terms of crystallinity, surface chemical composition, hydrophilicity, and dye uptake. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for crystallinity measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for chemical composition measurement were used. Surface morphology was studied by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Percentage crystallinity increased due to the depletion of amorphous region by plasma etching. Redeposition of etched particles was observed. Oxygen-based functional groups on the surface of PET increase from 27 to about 32% after 90 s exposure. Wettability increases by more than 10 times and moisture regain increases by three times, compared with the untreated sample. Dye uptake was not changed significantly. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.