Chemical bond formation during laser bonding of Teflon® FEP and titanium

Teflon® FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene) is resistant to most chemical solvents, is heat sealable and has low moisture uptake, which make this polymer attractive as a packaging materials for electronics and implantable devices. Teflon® FEP/Ti microjoints were fabricated by using focused infrared laser irradiation. Teflon® FEP/Ti interfaces were studied by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS). The XPS results give evidence for the formation of Ti–F bonds in the interfacial region. The AES and SEM–EDS results show that the chemical bond formation occurs only in the actual bond area. No evidence for chemical bond formation was found in the heat affected zone surrounding the laser bonds.