Nonequilibrium Plasma Treatment of Miscible Polystyrene/Poly(phenylene oxide) Blends

Abstract

Oxidative low-pressure and atmospheric plasma modification of polystyrene/poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) miscible polymer blend surfaces has been studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The extent and stability of surface oxygenation is found to be critically dependent upon both the type of electrical discharge employed and the bulk polymer blend composition.

Surface studies of UV-irradiated poly(vinyl chloride)/poly(methyl methacrylate) blends

“…atmospheric plasma [47,68] were observed by other researchers, and these objects were considered to be made of low molecular weight oxidized material (LMWOM) which was mobile and easily removed from the surface [62][63][64][65][66][67][68]. To check whether the objects were composed of oxidized materials, the samples were immersed in water and then, after drying, AFM studies were conducted again.…”

“…PMMA is more polar polymer than PVC thus the globules increased in size with increasing PMMA content as the contact angle could be lower on more polar surface [62][63][64][65][66][67][68].…”

“…In this experiment UV-light made the sample surfaces covered with globular objects. Similar objects on the surfaces treated with low-pressure oxygen plasma, atmospheric silent discharge[62,63], ultraviolet-ozone UVO[64][65][66][67], corona or…”

Different responses of several kinds of copolymerized polyimide films to ultraviolet irradiation

“…The formation of these ''floccules'' and ''nodules'' originated from the photooxidation of the films, which caused chain scission in the film surface. In the literatures, the ''nodules'', ''mounds'' or ''globules'' were entitled low molecular weight oxidized material (LMWOM) and were attributed to the chain scissions on the polymer surfaces [19,24,25]. And the reason for their aggregation was ascribed to the difference of the surface energy between the ''LMWOM'' and the substrate polymer [22,24].…”

“…In the literatures, the ''nodules'', ''mounds'' or ''globules'' were entitled low molecular weight oxidized material (LMWOM) and were attributed to the chain scissions on the polymer surfaces [19,24,25]. And the reason for their aggregation was ascribed to the difference of the surface energy between the ''LMWOM'' and the substrate polymer [22,24]. In the present study, we used ''LMWOM'' to refer to all the ''nodules'' and ''floccules'', the difference in their topographies resulted from their different degree of oxygenation [23].…”