Highly dispersible laser activate particles via surface modification for laser direct structuring and electroless plating application

Abstract

A composite of laser-activate particles and the super engineering plastic of polyphenylene sulfide was fabricated via melt-mixing. The laser-activate particle surfaces were modified using hydroperoxide and three different silane coupling agents. The laser-activate particles dramatically deteriorate the mechanical properties of polyphenylene sulfide because of its low compatibility with the polymer. However, surface modification, especially via amino silane treatment, effectively prevented the degradation of thermal and mechanical properties upon adding laser-activate particle, while modification with phenyl silane had the reverse effect. In order to confirm the different effects, solubility parameters obtained by theoretical calculation via the group contribution method were compared. Thermally and mechanically enhanced laser-activate particle/polyphenylene sulfide composites were fabricated for laser direct structuring and electroless plating applications.