TY - JOUR A1 - Ramanujam, Maalolan A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Wagner, M. A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian T1 - Effect of Br gassing after Ar plasma treatment of polyolefins N2 - For simulation and acceleration of artificial polymer ageing, polyolefin foils were exposed to low-pressure Ar plasma. Plasma particle bombardment and irradiation induce C–C and C–H bond scissions by σ→σ* excitations on the surface and in near-surface layers. Consequently, radicals are generated. They react by recombination, cross-linking, metastable trapping of the radical site or formation of olefinic double bonds. The long-living and metastable trapped C-radicals as well as double bonds in polyolefins were immediately exposed to bromine vapour without breaking the vacuum after switching-off the plasma. These reactive sites rapidly react with the molecular bromine under formation of C–Br bonds. For 5 min of argon plasma exposure, the elemental concentration of bromine was 13% for polyethylene and 22% Br/C for polypropylene as analysed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Nevertheless, not all C radical sites have reacted with bromine. Later on, when the polyolefins brought in contact with ambient air, an additional post-plasma reaction of the remaining trapped radicals with oxygen was observed. The oxygen concentrations were lower after bromine gassing, thus repressing partially the post-plasma oxidation in the analysed layer (ca. 6 nm) by radical quenching. Such bromination took place either at the surface or in near-surface layers because the Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR)-FTIR spectra (sampling depth ca. 2500 nm) did not show significant changes for argon plasma-treated PE foils with and without bromine vapour exposure. Further addition of bromine may also occur on C=C double bonds. KW - Ageing of polyolefins KW - Argon plasma KW - Radical formation KW - Formation of double bonds PY - 2013 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/01694243.2012.762326 SN - 0169-4243 SN - 1568-5616 VL - 27 IS - 6 SP - 1828 EP - 1839 PB - VNU Science Press CY - Utrecht AN - OPUS4-30572 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian A1 - Neubert, Dietmar A1 - Inagaki, N. T1 - Response of linear, branched or crosslinked polyethylene structures on the attack of oxygen plasma N2 - Linear, branched and crosslinked polyethylenes (PE) were exposed to the low-pressure oxygen plasma for 2–120 s. In the following the samples were washed with solvents to remove low-molecular weight oxidized material and to excavate the subjacent polymer structure for microscopic characterization. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements provided information about changes in elemental composition and chemical structure of PE after plasma exposure and washing. The calculation of the concentration of tertiary C atoms using XPS data was a measure of branches and crosslinking in the polymer before and after exposure to oxygen plasma. Linear PE was most sensitive towards oxygen plasma and showed the highest concentration in tertiary C atoms after plasma exposure. On the other hand branched PE types, which possess originally more tertiary carbon atoms, have lost two-third of them after 2 s oxygen plasma exposure. Branched PE show also topological changes at their surface as detected by atomic force microscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements confirmed strong changes in crystallinity and molecular orientation of linear PE already after 120 s exposure to the oxygen plasma interpreted as amorphization. These effects should be interpreted as result of crosslinking caused by the recombination of dangling bond sites. KW - Linear and branched polyethylene KW - Oxygen plasma KW - Functionalization KW - Crosslinking PY - 2014 UR - http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11090-014-9558-9/fulltext.html DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-014-9558-9 SN - 0272-4324 VL - 34 IS - 5 SP - 1199 EP - 1218 PB - Plenum Publ. Corp. CY - New York, NY, USA AN - OPUS4-30741 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Wettmarshausen, Sascha T1 - A new concept for adhesion promotion in metal-polymer systems by introduction of covalently bonded spacers at the interface N2 - A new concept for molecular interface design in metal-polymer systems is presented. The main features of this concept are the replacement of weak physical interactions by strong covalent bonds, the flexibilization of the interface for compensating different thermal expansions of materials by using long-chain flexible and covalently bonded spacers between the metal and the polymer as well as its design as a moisture-repellent structure for hindering diffusion of water molecules into the interface and hydrolysis of chemical bonds. For this purpose, the main task was to develop plasmachemical and chemical techniques for equipping polymer surfaces with monotype functional groups of adjustable concentration. The establishing of monotype functional groups allows grafting the functional groups by spacer molecules by applying usual wet-chemical reactions. Four processes were favoured for production of monotype functional groups by highly selective reactions: the plasma bromination, the plasma deposition of plasma polymers, the post-plasma chemical reduction of O-functionalities to OH-groups, and the chemical replacement of bromine groups by NH2-groups. The grafting of flexible organic molecules as spacers between the metal layer and polymer improved the peel strength of the metal. To obtain maximal peel strength of aluminium coatings to polypropylene films and occurrence of cohesive failure in the polypropylene substrate, about 27 OH groups per 100 C-atoms or 6 COOH groups per 100 C-atoms were needed. Introducing C6-11-aliphatic spacers 1 OH or COOH group per 100 C-atoms contributed about 60% of the maximal peel strength of the Al-PP system, i.e. 2 or 3 spacer molecules per 100 C-atoms were sufficient for maximal peel strength. KW - Polymer surface functionalization KW - Spacer grafting KW - Metal-polymer adhesion PY - 2008 DO - https://doi.org/10.1163/156856108X309611 SN - 0169-4243 SN - 1568-5616 VL - 22 IS - 10-11 SP - 1123 EP - 1143 PB - VNU Science Press CY - Utrecht AN - OPUS4-17741 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Schulze, Rolf-Dieter A1 - Meyer-Plath, Asmus A1 - Joshi, Ranjit A1 - Wettmarshausen, Sascha T1 - New Plasma Techniques for Polymer Surface Modification with Monotype Functional Groups N2 - The production of chemically-defined plasma polymers and the introduction of monotype functional groups onto polymer surfaces are described. One method is to lower the energetic level of low-pressure plasmas. Pressure- and plasma-pulsed plasmas were successfully tested for the production of chemically-defined plasma polymers by increasing the monomer supply during the plasma-off period. Well-defined ultra-thin polymer films with regular structure were deposited from atmospheric plasmas by electrospray techniques. Post-plasma wet-chemical processing was also applied, as were gas/liquid-based aerosols and underwater plasmas. KW - Plasma KW - Polymer-Oberflächenfunktionalisierung KW - Macromolecular plasma KW - Monotype functional groups KW - Plasma bromination KW - Plasma treatment KW - Pressure-pulsed plasma KW - Underwater plasma PY - 2008 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.200700145 SN - 1612-8850 SN - 1612-8869 VL - 5 IS - 5 SP - 407 EP - 423 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-17742 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Schulze, Rolf-Dieter A1 - Rau, A. T1 - Ultra-thin polymer layer deposition by aerosol-dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and electrospray ionization (ESI) at atmospheric pressure N2 - Polyolefins are chemically inert and do not adhere well to metals, polymers or inorganics. To overcome this problem, polyolefin surfaces were modified thermally, plasmachemically, or by flame treatment with different oxygen-containing groups, however, unfortunately, such treatments were accompanied by undesired, adhesion lowering polymer degradation. To solve this dilemma, solutions of synthetic polymers and copolymers were prepared, sprayed into the barrier discharge or electrosprayed without discharge and deposited as thin adhesion-promoting layers. The deposited polymer layers from poly(vinylamine), poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(vinyl alcohol) copolymers and poly(acrylic acid) were endowed with monotype functional groups. Using the aerosol - dielectric barrier discharge only a fraction of functional groups survived the deposition process in contrast to the electrospray in which all functional groups were retained. KW - Polymer surface modification KW - Dielectric barrier discharge KW - Polymer aerosols KW - Electrospray deposition KW - Adhesion-promoting layers PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1163/016942409X12598231568429 SN - 0169-4243 SN - 1568-5616 VL - 24 IS - 7 SP - 1329 EP - 1350 PB - VNU Science Press CY - Utrecht AN - OPUS4-21374 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gross, Thomas A1 - Pippig, F. A1 - Merz, B. A1 - Merz, R. A1 - Vohrer, U. A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Steffen, H. A1 - Bremser, Wolfram A1 - Unger, Wolfgang T1 - Determination of OH groups at plasma oxidised poly(propylene) by TFAA chemical derivatisation XPS: an inter-laboratory comparison N2 - A first inter-laboratory comparison was conducted to demonstrate and document the capability of interested laboratories to measure the fraction of C—OH species on a plasma oxidised poly(propylene) sample by using a chemical derivatisation XPS approach. This report presents the results from that inter-laboratory comparison and includes the data received for the measured values and their associated standard deviations of laboratory means, at a 95% confidence level. The measurements were guided by a protocol developed within the group before and summarised shortly in the paper. Standard deviations that may characterise the state-of-the-art for the nominally simple and rather often practised case of TFAA chemical derivatisation XPS of C—OH species on a plasma oxidised polyolefin surface are calculated following ISO 5725-2:1994. The main conclusion is that the associated degree of equivalence reached by the participating laboratories in this comparison is still low. Further research to improve chemical derivatisation XPS protocols is mandatory. KW - Chemical derivatisation KW - ESCA/XPS KW - Inter-laboratory comparison KW - Photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) KW - Poly(propylene) (PP) PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.200900142 SN - 1612-8850 SN - 1612-8869 VL - 7 IS - 6 SP - 494 EP - 503 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-21678 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Girard-Lauriault, Pierre-Luc A1 - Retzko, Iris A1 - Swaraj, Sufal A1 - Matsubayashi, N. A1 - Gross, Thomas A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Unger, Wolfgang T1 - Non-destructive sub-surface chemical characterization of air-exposed plasma polymers by energy-resolved XPS KW - Plasma polymers KW - Synchrotron XPS KW - Depth profiling KW - Derivatisation PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.200900130 SN - 1612-8850 SN - 1612-8869 VL - 7 IS - 6 SP - 474 EP - 481 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-21711 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Labahn, Diana A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Dielectric relaxation of ultrathin films of supported polysulfone N2 - The dynamic glass transition (α relaxation, structural relaxation) of ultrathin polysulfone films prepared between aluminum electrodes is investigated by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. As a main result, it is found that the glass transition temperature Tg does not depend on the thickness of the polymeric layer down to a thickness of 10 nm. For thicknesses lower than 10 nm, an increase of Tg is observed. A more detailed analysis of the temperature dependence of the relaxation rates reveals that the Vogel temperature increases and the fragility decreases systematically with decreasing film thickness d. Further, the dielectric strength Δε decreases with decreasing d. This is discussed by the formation of a surface layer of adsorbed polysulfone segments having a reduced molecular mobility with regard to the time scale characteristic of the glassy dynamics of bulk polysulfone. Plotted versus inverse film thickness Δε decreases linearly with 1/d and becomes zero for an extrapolated length scale of 10 nm. From that it is concluded that the thickness of the adsorbed boundary layer is about 5 nm. Contact-angle measurements were carried out to confirm the strong interaction between aluminum and polysulfone. It is also shown that preparation details like annealing conditions strongly influence the glass transition of supported ultrathin films. KW - Adsorbed layers KW - Aluminium KW - Annealing KW - Contact angle KW - Dielectric relaxation KW - Electrodes KW - Glass transition KW - Polymer films KW - Thin films PY - 2009 DO - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.011801 SN - 1539-3755 SN - 1063-651X VL - 79 IS - 1 SP - 011801-1 - 011801-9 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY AN - OPUS4-19050 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fahmy, A. A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian T1 - Structure of plasma-deposited poly(acrylic acid) films N2 - Poly(acrylic acid) films with a thickness of about 150?nm were deposited using a pulsed plasma onto aluminum and glass. The structure/property relationships of these samples were studied in dependence to the duty cycle (DC) of the plasma by a broad combination of different techniques and probes. For the first time, volume sensitive methods (FTIR, dielectric spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry) are combined with surface analyses i.e. XPS. For an unambiguous identification of COOH groups by XPS, derivatization with trifluoroethanol was accomplished. Quantitative FTIR investigations give qualitatively a dependence of the concentration of COOH groups upon DC similar to that given by XPS investigations. The observed differences are discussed considering the different analytical depths of both methods. The dielectric measurements reveal that the structure of the plasma deposited films is different from that of the bulk material. Moreover, these measurements show also that the plasma deposited films are not thermally stable but undergo a post plasma chemical reaction during heating, where the reaction kinetics depends on DC. PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.201000108 SN - 1612-8850 SN - 1612-8869 VL - 8 IS - 2 SP - 147 EP - 159 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-23478 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fahmy, A. A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian T1 - Structure-property relationship of thin plasma deposited poly(allyl alcohol) films N2 - Poly(allyl alcohol) films with a thickness of about 150 nm were deposited by pulse plasma polymerization onto different substrates (inorganic and organic). The structure/property relationships of these samples were studied in dependence on the duty cycle (DC) of the plasma by a broad combination of different techniques and probes. For the first time volume sensitive methods (FTIR and dielectric spectroscopy) are combined with surface analytics by employing XPS for that system. FTIR spectroscopy gives qualitatively the same dependence of the concentration of the OH groups on DC like XPS. The observed differences are discussed considering the different analytical depths of both the methods. The dielectric measurements show that the plasma deposited films are not thermally stable but undergo a post plasma chemical reaction during heating. The results obtained by dielectric spectroscopy are discussed in detail with the data from FTIR and XPS measurements. KW - Allyl alcohol KW - Dielectric properties KW - Plasma polymerization KW - Surface and bulk characterization KW - Thermal stability PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-011-9297-0 SN - 0272-4324 VL - 31 IS - 3 SP - 477 EP - 498 PB - Plenum Publ. Corp. CY - New York, NY, USA AN - OPUS4-23671 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -