Improved adhesion of LDPE films to polyolefin foams for automotive industry using low-pressure plasma

The use of polymer films for technical applications has increased considerably in the last years, since they offer good balanced properties. Polymer films find many applications as individual materials or as laminates with other films, foams, membranes, etc. In these cases it is necessary to improve the low intrinsic surface energy of polymer films to ensure their optimum mechanical performance. In this work, low-pressure glow discharge plasma with different gases is used to improve the adhesive properties of a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film, to obtain the optimum mechanical response of laminates with polyolefin foam for automotive applications (steering wheels). The results show a remarkable increase in T-peel strength of the adhesive joints. Furthermore, since automotive industry is characterized by high technical requirements, the evaluation of the durability of the adhesive joints (in terms of storage conditions: temperature and relative humidity) shows that the T-peel strength of adhesive joints is subjected to an aging process that slightly decreases their mechanical performance, but does not restrict the use of these laminates in automotive uses.