Melamine resins were used as 50-µm-thick fire retardant coatings for polypropylene (PP). Preceding deposition, low-pressure plasma polymer films of allyl alcohol were coated onto PP to improve the adhesion between PP and melamine resin coatings. The efficiency of such fire retardant coatings was confirmed by flame tests. The plasma-deposited polymer and the dip-coated melamine resin films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The adhesion of coatings was measured using a 90° peel test with a doubled-faced adhesive tape. To detect the locus of failure, the peeled layer surfaces were inspected using optical microscopy and XPS. Thermal properties of PP thick melamine resin-coated films were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis.
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.
Plasma deposited styrene/allyl alcohol and ethylene/allyl alcohol copolymer films were prepared and characterized using XPS, NEXAFS and ToF-SIMS. The relative partial flow rates of the co-monomers are used as deposition process parameters to vary and all other process parameters were constrained to conditions optimized for retention of functional groups. By doing this it is possible to control certain chemical properties of the copolymer films such as unsaturation, oxygen and hydroxyl group relative surface contents. The aging behavior of the plasma copolymer films on air was studied, too. Non-linear variations of relative oxygen contents, contents of C—OR species and contents of carbonyl species are obtained vs. variation of feed gas composition for both monomer combinations. The chemical character of the plasma copolymer films varies between the limits given by the respective plasma homopolymers. The observed non-linear correlations are discussed in terms of approaches developed for classic radical copolymerization. The aging behavior of the different plasma copolymers films depends on the feed gas composition. Principally these aging phenomena known from plasma polymer aging studies of that respective monomer which dominates the character of the plasma copolymer are observed.
Static ToF-SIMS analysis of plasma chemically deposited ethylene/allyl alcohol co-polymer films
(2006)
A plasma co-polymerization of ethylene as a chain extending monomer and allyl alcohol as a carrier monomer for hydroxyl groups was studied. The composition of the feed gas was systematically varied and the plasma co-polymers were analyzed in terms of their relative concentrations of OH functional groups by static Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) immediately after their preparation without any air contact, i.e., under so called in situ conditions.
The relative OH group concentration involved in the CH2OH groups was derived from the normalized yields of the CH3O+ secondary fragment ion. The density of functional groups in the plasma co-polymers was found to vary non-linearly with respect to the mole percentage of the monomers in the feed gas.
Co-polymerization phenomena, i.e. chemical interactions and recombination reactions taking place between monomer molecules in the plasma and/or during the deposition process, become evident in ToF-SIMS spectra.
The effect of the composite plasma parameter P/F, where P is the plasma power and F is the monomer flow rate, on the chemical character of pulsed plasma deposited allyl alcohol films was investigated by ToF-SSIMS. Information on the unsaturated character, the cross-linked and/or branched character of the plasma polymer films was derived in detail. The problem of the retention of OH groups in plasma deposited allyl alcohol films was elucidated in detail using SSIMS data. The lowest conversion rate from the monomer's hydroxyl groups to other oxygen functionalities in the plasma was concluded for the plasma polymer film produced at a P/F ratio of 0.05 W · sccm-1. It was found that the overall oxygen content of the films decreased vs. increasing P/F ratio. Because the freshly prepared films were investigated without air exposure, ageing on ambient air could be studied in detail. It was found that in the case of plasma deposited allyl alcohol films the ageing on air is probably based on two competing processes which are discussed in detail. Additionally, a review of literature data on the characterization of plasma deposited allyl alcohol films is given.
The peel strength of aluminium to polypropylene and poly(tetrafluoroethylene) was determined in dependence on the type and the concentration of functional groups on the polymer surface. For this purpose the polymer surface was equipped with monotype functional groups. The first method to produce monotype functionalized surfaces was an introduction of O functional groups using an oxygen plasma treatment and converting these groups to OH groups applying a wet chemical reduction. In result of this two-step treatment the hydroxyl group concentration at the polymer surface could be increased from 34 to 1014 OH groups/100 C atoms. The second method consists in the deposition of a 150 nm adhesion-promoting layer of plasmapolymers or copolymers onto the polymer surface using the pulsed plasma technique. For that purpose functional groups carrying monomers as allyl alcohol, allylamine and acrylic acid were used. Applying the plasma-initiated copolymerization and using neutral monomers like ethylene or butadiene the concentration of the functional groups was varied.
A correlation of peel strength with the ability of forming chemical interactions between Al atoms and functional groups was found: COOH > OH >> NH2 > H(CH2CH2).