Abstract
A study was conducted into enhancing scratch resistance of flexible polycarbonate (PC) substrates by low temperature plasma-polymerized organosilica (SiO x C y ) with various O 2 flow rates. Low temperature plasma-polymerized SiO x C y by tetramethylsilane (TMS) and O 2 plasmas at room temperature (23 °C) was proven to highly improve scratch resistance of flexible PC substrates. Scratch resistance of PC substrates was greatly enhanced from 75% scratching of un-treated PC substrates to no scratching of plasma-polymerized SiO x C y on PC substrates using steel wool of 300 cycles at 200 g loading. Scratch resistance of PC substrates was strongly dependent on their surface characteristics. Surface hardness of PC substrates was determined by the pencil test. Surface morphology of PC substrate was monitored by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emitted scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The atomic compositions and chemical bondings of TMS-oxygen plasma-polymerized SiO x C y were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
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