Increasing the surface energy of nonwoven fabrics by exposure to a one atmosphere uniform glow discharge plasma (OAUGDP)

Summary form only given. Early exposures of nonwoven fabrics to the OAUGDP required minutes to produce relatively small increases of surface energy, these durations appeared too long for commercial applications to fast-moving webs. Recent improvements in OAUGDP power density, plasma quality, and impedance matching of the power supply to the parallel plate plasma reactor has made it possible to raise the surface energy of a variety of polymeric webs (PP, PET, LLDPE, etc.) to levels up to 70 dynes/cm with one second of exposure. Here, we report the exposure of nonwoven fabrics made of PE and PET at the UTK Textiles and Nonwovens Development Center (TANDEC) to an impedance matched parallel plate OAUGDP for durations ranging from one second to several tens of seconds. Data will be reported on the surface energy as a function of time of exposure, and of the aging effect after exposure, because direct exposure of a web to the plasma may be thought capable of weakening or discoloring it, the results of standard tests of fabric strength and color change of selected fabric samples will be reported.