Surface modification of poly(aryl ether ether ketone) (PEEK) film surfaces by oxygen plasma treatment was investigated. Two procedures, the direct plasma treatment and the remote oxygen plasma treatment, were used as oxygen plasma treatments, and the efficiency of the hydrophilic modification was discussed. The direct and remote oxygen plasma treatments lead to degradation of the PEEK film as well as hydrophilic surface modification. The degradation disturbs the surface modification. The remote oxygen plasma treatment rather than the direct oxygen plasma is suitable for the hydrophilic surface modification of the PEEK film. The remote oxygen plasma treatment at 10 W for 60 s forms predominantly C{O groups rather than C|O groups as an oxygen-containing group on the PEEK surface and gives a highly hydrophilic surface with a contact angle of 44 degrees.

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Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) surface was modified by the graft polymerization of sodium vinylsulfonate, and the chemical composition of the graft-polymerized PTFE surface was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Peroxides were formed on the PTFE surface by a combination procedure of argon plasma irradiation and air exposure, and the graft polymerization of sodium vinylsulfonate was initiated by the peroxide groups at 65-80ЊC. The peroxide concentration is 3 1 10 /13 to 5 1 10numbers/cm 2 . The average degree of polymerization of the graft polymers was 3.4 1 10 3 . The graft polymer is distributed over the PTFE surface, but part of the PTFE surface remains uncovered. The coverage with the graft polymer is 43%. The PTFE surface graft polymerized with sodium vinylsulfonate was somewhat hydrophilic, but the hydrophilicity was lower than that of the PTFE surface modified by plasma treatment.

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Surface modification of poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) film by a remote oxygen plasma treatment has been investigated from a viewpoint of comparison with a direct oxygen plasma treatment. We call the modification procedure in a space far away from the oxygen plasma zone ''the remote oxygen plasma treatment,'' and the modification procedure in a space just in the oxygen plasma zone (a conventional oxygen plasma treatment) ''the direct oxygen plasma treatment.'' In a space far away from the plasma zone, oxygen radicals rather than electrons and oxygen ions are predominant, and the PPTA film can be modified by the remote oxygen plasma treatment into a hydrophilic surface without heavy degradation of the PPTA film. The PPTA film surfaces modified by the remote oxygen plasma treatment were analyzed with contact angle measurement, scanning microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.