An improvement on the adhesion‐strength of laminated ultra‐high‐molecular‐weight polyethylene fabrics: surface‐etching/modification using highly effective helium/oxygen/nitrogen plasma treatment

Abstract

In this study, helium/oxygen/nitrogen (He/O2/N2)‐plasma was used to etch/modify the surface of ultra‐high‐molecular‐weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber. After coated with polyurethane (PU), the plasma treated UHMWPE fabrics were laminated. It was found that the values of peeling strength between the laminated UHMWPE fabrics treated with He/O2/N2‐plasma were significantly higher (3–4 times) than that between pristine fabrics. The hydrophilic property and the value of the surface roughness of the UHMWPE fibers increased significantly after treated with He/O2/N2‐plasma. The mechanism of the oxidation/degradation of the polymers on the surface of the UHMWPE fiber during He/O2/N2‐plasma treatment was suggested. In addition, it was found that the higher content of functional groups (carbonyl, aldehyde, and carboxylic acid) on fiber surface and the higher value of surface roughness of the UHMWPE fiber treated with He/O2/N2‐plasma could significantly improve the adhesion‐strength of the laminated UHMWPE fabric. Especially, the micro‐aperture on the surface of UHMWPE fiber caused by the strenuous etching of He/O2/N2‐plasma treatment was also an important factor on improving the adhesion‐strength between the laminated UHMWPE fabrics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effect of mechanical, barrier and adhesion properties on oxygen plasma surface modified PP

“…The increase of bonding strength of polypropylene by oxygen plasma treatment is by the generation of carboxyl, hydroxyl and carbonyl groups on the surface layer of the polypropylene and because of this the improved polar attraction between the PP and the tape and increase in the wettability (Yeh, Lai, Suen, & Chen, 2011) As a result, on the surface of PP, the adhesion layer spreads more easily. With the adhesive material, when these functionalities come in contact, it forms a bond due to Van der Waal's force (Vijayalakshmi et al, 2011).…”

Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene fiber reinforced dental composites: Effect of fiber surface treatment on mechanical properties of the composites

“…This morphological change may be attributed to excavating the fibers surface [32] and partly broken UHMWPE polymer chains under the high energy corona [33]. The presence of micro-pits on the fiber surface can improve the interfacial adhesion of fiber-matrix through the mechanical interlocking between the micro-pits and the resin [17]. The changes in fiber surface roughness are also presented in Table 3.…”

“…Adhesion of UHMWPE fibers to the matrix resin is, however, difficult because the UHMWPE is non-polar in nature with low surface energy [10]. To provide a good adhesion between the UHMWPE fibers and the polymer matrix, the surface of the fibers has been modified using different methods such as chemical modification [11], chemical grafting [12], corona discharging [13,14], oxygen plasma [15][16][17], high energy laser [18], UV [19], and gamma irradiation [20]. Improving the adhesion performance of UHMWPE may results in improved dental FRCs.…”

Plasma-induced adhesion improvement of cotton/polypropylene-laminated fabrics

“…In general, increasing plasma power and exposure time enhanced the peel bond strength of laminated samples, which was also observed in the recent studies. [27,29,38] Before washing, peel bond strength of plasma-pretreated and laminated fabrics was about 28-56% higher than that of untreated laminated fabrics, when only cotton side was treated. In the case where both cotton and PP layers were plasma pretreated, peel strength was about 30-60% higher than that of untreated samples.…”

“…[25] Etching effect, increased surface roughness/contact area, and introduction of new functional groups induced by plasma treatment enhance the adhesion properties of fiber surfaces. [26] Adhesion strength improvement of plasma-pretreated and laminated polyethylene, [27] and polyamide [28] textile fabrics was studied. Few studies exist on washing durability of plasma coated cotton textiles.…”