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- Plasma polymerization (22) (entfernen)
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.
Plasma-deposited polymer films were prepared from organic molecules and investigated using near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for aging effects after exposure to air. Results from the investigation of homopolymers are summarized. Primarily the effect of the deposition parameters duty cycle and power are dealt with. The effect of the deposition parameter pressure is briefly discussed. An example to show the effect of feed gas composition on the aging of plasma polymerized ethylene/allyl alcohol and styrene/allyl alcohol copolymer is also given. In general, change in content of unsaturated or aromatic species, change in concentration of monomer functionality, and change in the oxygen content was observed in the plasma polymerized films on aging.
XPS and NEXAFS spectroscopy were used for the chemical characterization of pulsed plasma-deposited ethylene films before and after exposure to ambient air. The influence of external plasma parameters on the spectroscopic results was investigated. Information on the chemical character of the plasma-polymerized films, such as the regularity of the primary structure, the amount of long-living radicals, and branching or cross-linking or both was derived from this data. Irregularity and radical concentration for post-plasma reactions of the plasma-deposited films increased with the duty cycle or power. A decreased level of monomer fragmentation and, consequently, an increase in regularity is partially concluded from the experimental data when the monomer pressure is increased. The concentration of surface radicals available for post-plasma reactions also increased with monomer pressure. The correlation found between the degree of the post-plasma oxygen incorporation and the variation of the various external parameters agreed with earlier ToF-SSIMS findings.
Chemical properties of plasma-polymerized styrene films can be effectively controlled by the appropriate choice of external plasma parameters, such as duty cycle, power and monomer pressure. Chemical properties here are the regularity of the primary structure, the amount of long living radicals and branching or cross-linking or both in plasma polymerized styrene films, which can be indirectly monitored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Principally, XPS and NEXAFS spectra of plasma-polymerized styrene show all the spectroscopic fingerprints characteristic of atactic polystyrene indicating an inherent similarity of the respective primary chemical structures. There is an increase in irregularity and radical concentration for the plasma deposited films with increasing duty cycle or power. With an increase in monomer pressure, a decreased level of monomer fragmentation and, consequently, an increase in regularity must be concluded from the experimental data. The applied power regulates the fragmentation of the monomers as monitored by spectroscopic signals correlated to the aromatic rings. A trend in the extent of the post-plasma oxygen incorporation according to the variation of the various external plasma parameters was deduced, which agrees with earlier ToF-SIMS findings
Pulsed-plasma-deposited ethylene films were studied by time-of-flight static secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SSIMS) before and after exposure to ambient air. The influence of the external plasma parameters on the secondary ion mass spectra of plasma-deposited ethylene films was investigated. From these data, information on the chemical character of the plasma-deposited ethylene films was derived. The investigation of the effect of external plasma parameters on the chemical character of the plasma-deposited ethylene films revealed that there were some drastic changes in the secondary ion mass spectra of the films. It was found that fragmentation and re-arrangement of the monomer molecules in the plasma, which affects the chemical character of the deposited films, vary according to the external plasma parameters. When the plasma polymers are exposed to air, extensive oxygen incorporation occurs. The oxygen uptake is high at the beginning and then it levels of. Some indications for the formation and decay of peroxy radicals (COO) and, subsequently, hydroperoxides (COOH) are found. It was observed that the oxygen uptake of the plasma deposited ethylene films increase when the plasma conditions become harder.
The retention of chemical structure and functional groups during plasma polymerization was investigated. Usually plasma polymer layers, prepared by a continuous wave radio-frequency plasma, are often chemically irregular in their structure and composition. To minimize these irregularities low wattages and the pulsed plasma technique were applied to avoid fragmentations. The first goal was to produce plasma polymers comprising double or triple bonds as precursors for electrically conducting polymers. Acetylene, ethylene, butadiene and polystyrene were used as monomers and deposited as thin polymer films by pulsed plasmas of low wattages. Styrene polymerization was strongly enhanced in the dark phase (plasma off) of a pulsed r.f. plasma caused by the reactivity of the vinyl-type double bond. This could be confirmed by a verification of a rather high chemical regularity of the film sample. The oxygen content of this film measured by X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) was in situ 0% and after 24 h exposure to air lower than 1%. Additionally, post-plasma oxidations of trapped radicals with air could be suppressed using NO gas as radical quencher. Such quenched plasma polymer layers were completely stable against oxidation for a number of weeks. During the low-wattage pulse plasma polymerization metal atoms were simultaneously or layer by layer evaporated into the growing layer and in situ measured by XPS. These metal atoms are acting as dopants. Here, Li, K, Mg and Cr were used at different concentrations providing electrical conductivity and magnetic properties for the film.
Pulsed plasma deposited styrene and ethylene films were studied by Time of Flight Static Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SSIMS) before and after exposure to ambient air. The influence of the external plasma parameters on the secondary ion mass spectra of plasma deposited films was investigated. Approaches for the interpretation of SSIMS spectra of organic materials were reviewed and applied to the evaluation of SSIMS data of plasma deposited films. From these data, information on the chemical character of the plasma deposited films was derived.
When the plasma polymers are exposed to air oxygen incorporation occurs. The oxygen uptake is high at the beginning and then it levels of.
A relation that higher the regularity of the film lower is the oxygen uptake was found. Harder plasma conditions, which could be obtained by applying higher plasma power or lower monomer flow rate, result in higher oxygen uptake and vice versa.
Plasma polymerised films of acrylic acid, allyl alcohol and allyl amine were prepared and studied by XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and XAS (X-ray absorption spectroscopy). The influence of external plasma parameters on certain chemical aspects of the films was investigated. The use of XPS and NEXAFS (near edge X-ray absorption fine structure) as complimentary tools in the surface characterisation of thin films has been highlighted. Certain chemical aspects of the plasma polymerised films such as presence of ROCdouble bond; length as m-dashO in the case of plasma polymerised acrylic acid films, presence of RCdouble bond; length as m-dashO and RCOR bonds in case of plasma polymerised allyl alcohol films and presence of RCdouble bond; length as m-dashN and C?N in case of plasma polymerised allyl amine films were studied. The concentration of ROCdouble bond; length as m-dashO species was found to decrease with increase in r.f. duty cycle in the case of plasma polymerised acrylic acid films. In case of plasma polymerised allyl alcohol films there is a decrease in the concentration of RCdouble bond; length as m-dashO species and increase in the concentration of RCOR species at higher pressures, while in the case of plasma polymerised allyl amine films the concentration of RCdouble bond; length as m-dashN and C?N increases at higher powers, with an increase in C?N more pronounced at higher powers.
Mixtures of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) and oxygen have been used for deposition of SiO2-like layers by plasma polymerization under low-pressure conditions onto polyethylene and polystyrene used as basecoat. Water glass was cast onto these 0.5 µm plasma thick siloxane-like layers with a thickness of 5 to 40 µm. The adhesion of these bilayer systems and their flame resistance were tested.
The effect of different plasma parameters such as monomer/gas ratio, pressure and power input into the discharge on the deposition rate and the composition of the formed layers was studied. Characterization and chemical composition of the formed films were performed using infrared, X-ray photoelectron and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Peel strengths of composites were measured and the locus of peel front propagation was detected. Thermal properties of composites were analyzed by thermo-gravimetric analysis. Finally, the fire-retardant properties of thick coated polymers were determined by exposure to flames and the behavior of coatings on the polymers during flaming was observed visually.
Several reaction mechanisms have been proposed for the formation of plasma polymers, such as monomer fragmentation followed by poly-recombination into randomly structured and crosslinked films; fragmentation, accompanied by the formation of acetylene or other film-forming intermediates and deposition of polystyrene-like material; plasma-initiation of a radical chain-growth polymerization; and ion-molecule reactions, as well as ionic chain-growth polymerization. The bulk structure of plasma polymers is completely irregular, far from that of conventional polymers. The retention of functional groups during plasma polymerization tends to be greater than that of the entire monomer structure found again as an intact repeat unit in the resulting plasma polymer. An alternative method for depositing ultra-thin, pin-hole free coatings, ones that possess regular structures, is by electrospray ionization (ESI) of pre-fabricated polymers.
Polystyrene (PS) spin coated thin films were modified by O2 and Ar plasma as
well as by UV irradiation treatments. The modified PS samples were compared with
plasma polymerized and commercial polystyrene. The effects of plasma (O2 and Ar) and
UV irradiation treatments on the surface and the bulk properties of the polymer layers were
discussed. The surface properties were evaluated by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and
Contact angle measurements and the bulk properties were investigated by FTIR and
dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. As a result only one second treatment time was sufficient
to modify the surface. However, this study was also dedicated to understand the effect
of plasma and plasma irradiation on the deposited layers of plasma polymers. The
dielectric measurements showed that the plasma deposited films were not thermally stable
and underwent an undesired post-plasma chemical oxidation.
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.
Copolymers of acrylic acid and styrene (AA/S) were prepared by pulsed plasma deposition technique. Their structure–property relationships were studied in dependence on the comonomer ratio. Both, the regularity of the structure and the composition of the thin copolymer films were investigated by bulk-sensitive (dielectric spectroscopy, FTIR, and differential scanning calorimetry) as well as surface-sensitive methods such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). For an unambiguous identification of the functionality of the deposited films the COOH groups were estimated by derivatization with trifluoroethanol and subsequent XPS measurement as well as by the quantitative analysis of the FTIR data. As a result, the concentration of COOH groups on the surface and in the bulk is increasing with the fraction of AA in precursor mixture in a non-monotonous way but similar to the dependence obtained by conventional free radical polymerization.
Melamine and melamine resins are widely used as fire retardants for polymer materials used in pharmaceutical, plastic, textile, rubber, and construction industry. Melamine-based flame retardants act by blowing off intumescent layers, char formation, and emission of quenching ammonia gas and diluent molecular nitrogen. Special advantages are: low cost, low smoke density and toxicity, low corrosive activity, safe handling, and environmental friendliness. Methylated poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) (mPMF) was used as thick (≥40 µm) fire-retardant coating for plasma pretreated polymers. A combined low-pressure plasma pretreatment consisting of oxygen plasma exposure followed by deposition of thin poly(allylamine) (ppAAm) and poly(allyl alcohol) (ppAAl) plasma polymers as adhesion promoters have improved the adhesion of thick mPMF coatings strongly. Chemical structure and composition of deposited polymer films were characterized by infrared-attenuated total reflectance and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). After peeling, the peeled layer surfaces were also investigated for identification of the locus of failure and their topography using optical microscopy and XPS. Often the adhesion promotion was so efficient that the peeling of coating was not possible. Thermal properties of plasma polymers and dip-coating films were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis. Significant improvement of fire-retardant properties of coated polymers was confirmed by flame tests.
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.
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.
Melamine and melamine resins are widely used as fire-retardants for polymer building materials. Cured melamine systems are used in heat-sensitive items, such as furniture and window frames and sills. In this work, differently cured methylated poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) (cmPMF) resins were used as fire-retardant coverage for poly(styrene) (PS) and poly(ethylene) (PE) building materials. Such polymer layers should have several tenths of micrometers thickness to produce sufficient fire retardancy. These thick layers were produced by dip-coating. To promote sufficient adhesion of such thick coating to the polyolefin substrates, also in the case of high temperatures occurring at fire exposure, the polymer substrates were firstly coated with a few hundred nanometer thick adhesion-promoting plasma polymer layer. Such thin plasma polymer layers were deposited by low-pressure plasma polymerization of allyl alcohol (ppAAl). It was assumed that the hydroxyl groups of ppAAl interact with the melamine resin; therefore, ppAAl was well suited as adhesion promoter for thick melamine resin coatings. Chemical structure and composition of polymer films were investigated using infrared-attenuated total reflectance and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Peel strengths of coatings were measured. After peeling, the peeled polymer surfaces were also investigated using optical microscopy and XPS the layers for identification of the locus of peel front propagation. Thermal properties were analyzed using TGA (thermo-gravimetric analyses). Finally, the fire-retardant properties of such thick coated polymers were evaluated by exposure to flames.
The adhesion of thick poly(allylamine)-polyphosphate layers (1 µm) deposited by the wet-chemical layer-by-layer technique (LbL) onto polyethylene or polystyrene (each 100 µm) was very low. To promote the adhesion of these LbL layers the polyolefin substrates were oxidized at the surface by short exposure to the oxygen plasma (2 or 5 s) and subsequently coated with an interlayer of plasma-deposited poly(allylamine) or poly(allyl alcohol) (100 nm). The plasma polymer interlayers have improved strongly the adhesion between polyolefin substrates and polyphosphate coatings. Such phosphate coatings are interesting for life sciences (nucleotide formation) but also for fire retardancy in combination with N-rich compounds such as melamine.
The intention was to prefer chemical and hydrogen bonds for adhesion promoting because of their high binding energy. Therefore, the introduced oxygen-containing groups at the polyolefin surface could interact with the OH or NH2 groups of the adhesion-promoting plasma polymer interlayer. These groups were also able to interact strongly with the poly(allylamine)-polyphosphate topcoating.
The coated polyolefins were investigated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy in Attenuated Total Reflectance mode (FTIR-ATR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Thermo-Gravimetric Analyses (TGA) and Atomic Force Spectroscopy (AFM) and 90° peel test.
Communication: Fire retardant coatings are deposited on polyamide-66 using plasma polymerisation. Chemical composition and thickness of deposits are adjusted varying the plasma treatment based on hexamethydisiloxane mixed with oxygen. The fire retardancy performances are evaluated using a cone calorimeter. The correlation between fire retardancy and thickness as well as chemical composition is discussed.