Laser Activated and Electroless Metalized Polyurethane Coatings Containing Copper(II) L-Tyrosine and Glass Microspheres.

Piotr Rytlewski,Rafał Malinowski,Krzysztof Moraczewski,Bartłomiej Jagodziński,Piotr Augustyn,Bogusław Budner,Agnieszka Wojciechowska

doi:10.3390/molecules26185571

Abstract

Polyurethane coatings containing copper(II) L-tyrosine and glass microspheres were laser irradiated and underwent electroless metallization. Various sizes of glass microspheres were incorporated into the polyurethane coating matrix in order to examine their effects on surface activation and electroless metallization. The surface of the coatings was activated by using ArF excimer laser emitting ultraviolet radiation (λ = 193 nm) using different number of laser pulses and their fluence. The effects of surface activation and metallization were evaluated mainly based on optical and scanning electron microcopies (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that the presence of glass microspheres enabled the reduction in copper complex content, intensified the ablation process (higher cone-like structures created) and resulted in higher content of copper metallic seeds. On the other hand, the glass microspheres concentration, which was higher for lower size microspheres, was advantageous for obtaining a fully metallized layer.

Highlights

The metallization of non-metallic materials, especially polymers, is an important industrial process crucial in the production of modern electronic or mechatronic devices [1,2,3]
The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of glass microspheres on laserinduced surface activation and electroless metallization
The presence of glass microspheres enabled reducing the content of copper(II) L-tyrosine, as a metallization precursor, to 15 wt.%

Summary

Introduction

The metallization of non-metallic materials, especially polymers, is an important industrial process crucial in the production of modern electronic or mechatronic devices [1,2,3]. The most common metallization techniques are physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition CVD or chemical metallization (electroless metallization). Among these three techniques, electroless metallization is used on the largest industrial scale [4]. Electroless metallization is used on the largest industrial scale [4] These methods are essentially classified as non-selective because all surface areas are metallized. In the case of selective metallization, only dedicated areas of the surface, e.g., conductive tracks are metalized, and this process commonly requires the application of surface masking. A relatively new and widely developed technique is electroless metallization of selectively activated surface areas with the use of laser radiation

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