Adhesion improvement of electroless copper to ABS resin by low environmental pollution surface etching system

Abstract

The adhesion strength between acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) resin and electroless copper can be improved significantly by a low environmental pollution etching system containing H2SO4–MnO2–Na4P2O7–H2O colloid as a replacement for conventional chromic acid etching solutions. In this paper, the effects of the H2SO4 concentration and Na4P2O7 content on the surface topography, surface roughness and the adhesion strength were studied. When the H2SO4 concentration was 12·9M, good etching performance was obtained. The average adhesion strength between the electroless copper and ABS substrate reached 1·30 kN m−1. The surface contact angle measurement indicated that the ABS surface became hydrophilic and the contact angle decreased from 92·1 to 31·2°.