Adhesion improvement of tire cord induced by gas plasma

Abstract

SynopsisThe adhesion of poly(ethy1ene terephthalate) (PET) to rubber in tire composites was significantly improved by exposure of the PET to "low-temperature" gas plasmas. Rubber composites built using a singledip resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) adhesive and plasma-treated PET reinforcement were studied. The effects of treatment conditions on this adhesion improvement were examined. The improvement was insensitive to nature of the gas, exposure time, power level, and pressure within the operating limits of the plasma generator. Fiber finish on filaments being treated was detrimental to the adhesion improvement; however, an overcoating of treated filaments with finish was not detrimental. The effects of tire building operations on this adhesion improvement of treated P E T were examined. The improvement was found over a wide range of adhesives, adhesive-curing conditions, rubber compositions, and bonding testing conditions.

Significance of Hydrogen–Deuterium Exchange at Polyolefin Surfaces on Exposure to Ammonia Low-Pressure Plasma

“…Thus, NH 2 radicals can recombine at impinging the polymer surface with C radicals [1]: NH 3 þ e À ! Á NH 2 þ H Á À CH 2 À CH CH 3 ð Þ ½ n À þhm ! À½CH 2 À C Á CH 3 ð Þ n À þ H Á CH 2 À C Á CH 3 ð Þ n À þ Á NH 2 !…”

“…À CH 2 À C NH 2 ð Þ CH 3 ð Þ ½ n À Another application of the ammonia plasma was introduced by Friedrich in 1972 [2]. Carbon fibres were exposed to ammonia plasma and the produced amino groups were consumed by epoxy resin thus forming covalent bonds between fibre and resin and producing a high-strength CF-epoxy composite: Later on ammonia plasma treatment of poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) cord fibres for adhesion improvement to resorcinol-formaldehyde latex were performed [3]. Ammonia plasma treatment was also applied to aromatic polyamide (Kevlar) fibres for linking with epoxy-resin in composite materials [4].…”

Plasma surface treatment of textile fibres for improvement of car tires

“…For this reasons, we decided to replace the isocyanides by means of plasma surface treatment. There are many techniques to control surface characteristics of cord fibres with regard to the tire cord processing [1,8]. For testing of the adhesion of the plasma treated PES cords, fifteen standard H-tests and three peel tests were used for each experiment.…”

“…Many studies have been carried out on the surface modification of polymeric materials by discharge treatment in relation to the improvement in functional properties of the textile fibres. The vast majority of the studies were made at reduced pressures of the order of 10 -10 3 Pa [1,2]. The main disadvantages of the low-pressure low-temperature plasma techniques are rather expensive vacuum systems, interface from atmosphere to low pressure conditions, extremely high-power consumption, long processing times, and scaling problems.…”

Some plasma treatment of PET fibres and adhesion testing to rubber

“…Etching and functionalization by oxygen and argon plasma were the most common treatments used to improve the performance of PET fibres 9,10) . A wide variety of other gas and monomer vapour plasmas have been used to modify PET films surfaces 11,12) although such treatments are less common.…”