Selective oxygen plasma etching of coatings

The technology of selective oxygen plasma etching is presented. It enables the evaluation of the state of pigment dispersion, as well as the distribution of other solid particles that are added in pigmented coatings for various functional purposes. The technology is based on the selective interaction of reactive gaseous particles from oxygen plasma with the pigment-polymer composite. In our case, we wanted to etch the polymer matrix while leaving the particles untouched. Scanning electron microscope images of the effects of exposing the composite to oxygen plasma are presented.