Open Access

Polypropylen (PP) ist als Niedrigenergie-Polymer ohne nass- und plasmachemische Vorbehandlung weder haftfest zu beschichten noch verbundfest zu kleben. Typische Haft- bzw. Klebfestigkeiten liegen für die unbehandelte Polymeroberfläche bei maximal 0,5 MPa. Hinzu kommt, dass bei der Bestimmung von Haft- und Klebfestigkeiten der unmodifizierten Oberfläche mit großen Streuungen zu rechnen ist, die bezogen auf die Spannweite durchaus einem Faktor 5 entsprechen können. Generell besteht bei Prüfung der Haftfestigkeit mittels Stirnabzugsversuch und bei der Prüfung der Klebfestigkeit die Notwendigkeit eines statistisch validierten Herangehens. Hierzu sind zeitaufwändige Ein-Proben-Klebungen und -Prüfungen nur eingeschränkt geeignet. Zudem ist, insbesondere für geringe Haft- bzw. Klebfestigkeiten, ein querkraftfreies Prüfen Grundvoraussetzung. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden verschiedenartige plasmagestützte Oberflächenfunktionalisierungen von PP sowie das Mehr-Proben-Konzept zur Klebung/Prüfung von bis zu acht Proben vorgestellt. Dazu werden ein BAM-Funktionsmuster einer Mehr-Proben-Kleb-Vorrichtung und eine kommerzielle analytische Zentrifuge zum Prüfen verwendet.

Plasma-chemical bromination applied to graphitic materials, in particular to highly ordered pyrolytic graphite is reviewed. The resulting bromination efficiency of the plasma-chemical treatment was subject of systematic process optimization. The plasma of elemental bromine vapour produced bromine concentrations on graphene surfaces of more than 30 % Br/C using either inductively or capacitively coupled low-pressure radio-frequency plasmas. Plasma brominated graphite surfaces have been studied by Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The introduction of bromine into graphene-like graphite layers and its binding situation were investigated. To study the physical effect of the plasma bromination process, Kr plasma was also used because of its chemical inertness but similar atomic mass. Covering the samples with a Faraday cage or with a LiF window should help to differentiate between physical, chemical and radiation effects of the plasma. Bromination was assigned to radical or electrophilic addition of bromine onto fully substituted aromatic double bonds (sp² C) with exothermal reaction enthalpy. Low bromination shows a strong decay of aromatic double bonds, higher bromination percentage let disappear all aromatic rings. The formed C–Br bonds were well suited for efficient grafting of organic molecules by post-plasma wet-chemical nucleophilic substitution. This grafting onto the graphene surface was demonstrated using aminosilane and different diamines. The bromination of double bonds changes the hybridization of carbon atoms from plane sp² to tetrahedral sp³ hybridization. Thus, the plane topography of graphene is destroyed and the conductivity is lost.

Various methods have been used for introducing fire retardant additives into polymers. Deposition of thick fire retardant coatings directly onto polymer substrates is an alternative technique. An important Advantage of the coating technique is the preservation of the physical and chemical integrity of the polymer material. Moreover, the fire retardancy of the polymer materials can be achieved following their production. Suitable coating materials are inorganics, intumescent, char-forming, oxygendiluting, and cooling or radical quenching layers. The most important problem is to achieve sufficient coating thickness to withstand the direct attack of flame and to protect the polymer bulk from pyrolysis, otherwise blistering of coating, caused by emitted pyrolysis gases, is often observed. To avoid blistering of coating, the adhesion between polyolefin Substrate and fire retardant coating has to be extraordinarily high. In order to achieve such a high level of adhesion, the polymer surface has to be modified with adhesion-promoting functional groups. The deposition of thin plasma polymers as adhesion-promoting layers with NH2, OH or COOH groups has been the most suited method. These functional groups are able to form covalent bonds and other interactions between the fire-resistant coating and the plasma-modified polyolefin substrate. Additionally, the plasma polymer counteracts the strong mechanical stresses in the laminate on exposure to high temperatures by its flexibility. The thick fire retardant coatings were chosen based on “green” ecological aspects to avoid flame-initiated emission of toxic or corrosive gases and remains of toxic char.

Bonding strength of adhesive-bonded joints and adhesive strength of coatings have been exclusively determined in single-sample tests using a tensile testing machine. Necessarily, the single-sample approach was also applied to the corresponding bonding procedure. As a consequence, reliability and reproducibility of results were restricted. By applying the newly introduced centrifuge technology, the multiple-sample approach was realized for simultaneous tensile testing of up to eight samples under identical conditions without any disturbing shear-force effects. In order to introduce the multiple-sample approach into the bonding procedure, a hydraulic bonding set-up was developed which enables identical bonding pressure also for slightly different heights of sample assemblies. Both sample approaches were compared for various application examples: ranking of different classes of adhesives, validated statistics of adhesive-bonded joints using one particular adhesive and effects of cleaning and plasma-treatment on the adhesive strength of coatings. The investigated systems included glass, metals and polymer substrates, different adhesives, metallic and dielectric coatings on polymers.

It has been shown that selected types of substituents are able to vary the oxidative behavior of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Such substituents investigated were sterically hindered secondary amino groups bonded in grafted piperidine units and covalently bonded bromine groups. Their interference and activity was preliminary determined in the model cumene and then in oil diesel fraction and low density polyethylene oxidation reactions. Results obtained indicate that chemical linking of amine moieties containing –NH groups directly to the carbon nanotubes core significantly increases their intrinsic anti-oxidative capacity while the grafting of Br-groups provokes the opposite functioning of the pristine samples. This inference was proved by thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis of the polyethylene composites and experiments on profound aerobic oxidation of petroleum naphthenic fraction derived from the commercial Baku oils blend diesel cut.