Adhesion of metals to plasma-induced functional groups at polymer surfaces

The peel strength of aluminium to polypropylene and poly(tetrafluoroethylene) was determined in dependence on the type and the concentration of functional groups on the polymer surface. For this purpose the polymer surface was equipped with monotype functional groups. The first method to produce monotype functionalized surfaces was an introduction of O functional groups using an oxygen plasma treatment and converting these groups to OH groups applying a wet chemical reduction. In result of this two-step treatment the hydroxyl group concentration at the polymer surface could be increased from 3–4 to 10–14 OH groups/100 C atoms. The second method consists in the deposition of a 150 nm adhesion-promoting layer of plasmapolymers or copolymers onto the polymer surface using the pulsed plasma technique. For that purpose functional groups carrying monomers as allyl alcohol, allylamine and acrylic acid were used. Applying the plasma-initiated copolymerization and using neutral “monomers” like ethylene or butadiene the concentration of the functional groups was varied. elation of peel strength with the ability of forming chemical interactions between Al atoms and functional groups was found: COOH > OH >> NH2 > H(CH2–CH2).