Effect of static electricity on static friction force between plastic film and steel roller

Abstract

To establish the new technology named Roll-to-Roll Printed Electronics, which can be applied to manufacture the high functional thin film based devices such as flexible displays, batteries, and electric skins, it is needed to combine the roll-to-roll transportation system and coating technology effectively. For that purpose, one of important factors to be considered is the effect of electrostatic force on the friction characteristics between the film and roller surface. In this paper, the static friction between the plastic film (polyethylene terephthalate film) and steel roller was measured to clarify the effect of electrostatic force on the friction characteristics. The static friction was measured by pulley method while changing the film thickness, web tension, and relative humidity of ambient air. In the process it was found that both the decrease in the film thickness and increase in relative humidity of the air have an effect of an increase in the static friction coefficient in the system. Moreover, the tendency can be pronounced with the decrease in the web tension.