Adhesion properties of polypropylene fabric treated with atmospheric pressure plasma and coated with polyurethane: Studies on ageing process

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP) tape by tape fabric was modified with atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasma (APNTP) for improved hydrophilicity and adhesion to polyurethane (PU) coating. The major drawback of plasma surface modification is “ageing” of the modified surface with respect to time. In this study polypropylene fabric was subjected to atmospheric plasma treatment and its effect on adhesion properties of plasma treated and polyurethane (PU) coated fabric was studied with respect to ageing behaviour up to 4 weeks. Helium plasma treated and coated PP fabrics showed significant improvement in the adhesion strength as compared to untreated samples. Power and time of the plasma were found to be the most effective parameters for adhesion improvement of the coated fabric. Surface morphological changes were analysed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Change in surface chemistry was also analysed by Attenuated Total Reflection- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Contact angle measurements were carried out to analyse changes in surface wettability and surface free energy was determined. Changes in adhesion strength with respect to ageing time was analysed by statistical significance ANOVA test and found to be stable up to three weeks when PP samples were treated with optimised plasma processing parameters.