The effects of roughening on teflon surfaces

Abstract

A teflon surface roughening with sodium-naphthalene complex solution is investigated. The roughened surface properties and binding energy were examined by contact angle, surface roughness, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. In the initial stage, XPS analysis shows that the intensity of the carbon-fluorine bonds decreases continuously due to the surface roughening step, and the contact angle which is an indicator of surface wettability also decreases. The surface roughness tends to increase during the initial roughening step but then becomes smooth with additional roughening. The most effective roughening time may be approximately 5–10 s; in this time range the relative concentration of fluorine atoms and contact angle are smaller, whereas the surface roughness of teflon surfaces are larger. The roughening effect on the teflon surfaces can also be examined using SEM micrographs.