The Effect of Plasma Surface Treatment on a Porous Green Ceramic Film with Polymeric Binder Materials

To reduce time and energy during thermal binder removal in the ceramic process, plasma surface treatment was applied before the lamination process.The adhesion strength in the lamination films was enhanced by oxidative plasma treatment of the porous green ceramic film with polymeric binding materials.The oxygen plasma characteristics were investigated through experimental parameters and weight loss analysis.The experimental results revealed the need for parameter analysis,including gas material,process time,flow rate,and discharge power,and supported a mechanism consisting of competing ablation and deposition processes.The weight loss analysis was conducted for cyclic plasma treatment rather than continuous plasma treatment for the purpose of improving the film’s permeability by suppressing deposition of the ablated species.The cyclic plasma treatment improved the permeability compared to the continuous plasma treatment.

Effect of Low-Pressure Nitrogen DC Plasma Treatment on the Surface Properties of Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene, Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) and Polyvinyl Chloride Films

In this study, commercial biaxially oriented polypropylene （BOPP）, polyvinyl chlo- ride （PVC） and poly （methyl methacrylate） （PMMA） films were treated with nitrogen plasma over different exposure times in a Pyrex tube surrounded by a DC variable magnetic field. The chemi- cal changes that appeared on the surface of the samples were investigated using Fourier transform infrared （FT4R） spectroscopy and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared （ATR- FTIR） spectroscopy after treatment for 2 min, 4 min and 6 rain in a nitrogen plasma chamber. Effects of the plasma treatment on the surface topographies and contact angles of the untreated and plasma treated films were also analyzed by atomic force microscopy （AFM） and a contact angle measuring system. The results show that the plasma treated films become more hydrophilic with an enhanced wettability due to the formation of some new polar groups on the surface of the treated films. Moreover, at higher exposure times, the total surface energy in all treated films increased while a reduction in contact angle occurred. The behavior of surface roughness in each sample was completely different at higher exposure times.

Non-Thermal Atmospheric Plasma:Can it Be Taken as a Common Solution for the Surface Treatment of Dental Materials?

This study aimed to evaluate the surface roughness and wetting properties of various dental prosthetic materials after different durations of non-thermal atmospheric plasma（NTAP）treatment.One hundred and sixty discs of titanium（Ti）（n：40）,cobalt chromium（Co-Cr）（n：40）,yttrium stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals（Y-TZP）（n：40）and polymethylmethacrylate（PMMA）（n：40）materials were machined and smoothed with silicon carbide papers.The surface roughness was evaluated in a control group and in groups with different plasma exposure times [1-3-5 s].The average surface roughness（Ra）and contact angle（CA）measurements were recorded via an atomic force microscope（AFM）and tensiometer,respectively.Surface changes were examined with a scanning electron microscope（SEM）.Data were analyzed with two-way analysis of variance（ANOVA）and the Tukey HSD test α=0.05）.According to the results,the NTAP surface treatment significantly affected the roughness and wettability properties（P 〈 0.05）.SEM images reveal that more grooves were present in the NTAP groups.With an increase in the NTAP application time,an apparent increment was observed for Ra,except in the PMMA group,and a remarkable reduction in CA was observed in all groups.It is concluded that the NTAP technology could enhance the roughening and wetting performance of various dental materials.

Effect of Cold Plasma Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of RTM Composites

Cold plasma technology was used to treat the surface of carbon fibers braided by PET in this paper and SEM was used to analyze the fracture microstructure of composite interlaminar shear stress (ILSS). The result shows that the surface polarity of carbon fibers was modified by cold plasma treatment, which increases the impregnation of PET braided carbon fibers during the process of resin flowing, improves the interfacial properties of RTM composites, and therefore enhances the mechanical properties of the KTM composites.

A low power 50Hz argon plasma for surface modification of polytetrafluoroethylene

The characteristics of a low power 50 Hz argon plasma for surface treatment of polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE)film is presented in this article.The current–voltage behavior of the discharge and time-varying intensity of the discharge showed that a DC glow discharge was generated in reversed polarity at every half-cycle.At discharge power between 0.5 and 1 W,the measured electron temperature and density were 2–3 eV and∼10^(8) cm^(−3),respectively.The optical emission spectrum of the argon plasma showed presence of some‘impurity species’such as OH,N_(2) and H,which presumably originated from the residual air in the discharge chamber.On exposure of PTFE films to the argon glow plasma at pressure 120 Pa and discharge power 0.5 to 1 W,the water contact angle reduced by 4%to 20%from the original 114°at pristine condition,which confirms improvement of its surface wettability.The increase in wettability was attributed to incorporation of oxygen-containing functional groups on the treated surface and concomitant reduction in fluorine as revealed by the XPS analysis and increase in surface roughness analyzed from the atomic force micrographs.Ageing upon storage in ambient air showed retention of the induced increase in surface wettability.

Influence of Chemical Precleaning on the Plasma Treatment Efficiency of Aluminum by RF Plasma Pencil

This paper is aimed to show the influence of initial chemical pretreatment prior to subsequent plasma activation of aluminum surfaces.The results of our study showed that the state of the topmost surface layer（i.e.the surface morphology and chemical groups）of plasma modified aluminum significantly depends on the chemical precleaning.Commonly used chemicals（isopropanol,trichlorethane,solution of Na OH in deionized water）were used as precleaning agents.The plasma treatments were done using a radio frequency driven atmospheric pressure plasma pencil developed at Masaryk University,which operates in Ar,Ar/O_2 gas mixtures.The effectiveness of the plasma treatment was estimated by the wettability measurements,showing high wettability improvement already after 0.3 s treatment.The effects of surface cleaning（hydrocarbon removal）,surface oxidation and activation（generation of OH groups）were estimated using infrared spectroscopy.The changes in the surface morphology were measured using scanning electron microscopy.Optical emission spectroscopy measurements in the near-to-surface region with temperature calculations showed that plasma itself depends on the sample precleaning procedure.

Improvement of Optical Reactivity for Nano-TiO2 Film by Nitrogen ECR Plasma

Nitrogen ion was implanted into the nano-TiO2 film surfaces by electron cyclotron resonance （ECR） plasma modification to improve the optical reactivity in visible-light region for nano-TiO2. Diagnosing the N2 plasma by optical emission spectroscopy （OES） was applied to the process of plasma modification. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） was used for analysis of the binding of element after plasma modification. It is shown that the surface modification was caused by excitated N. The injecting of N2 and N＋ leads to the increase in the dissociative interstitial state N in the films. The doped N makes for TiO2-xNx appearing in the TiO2 films. TiO2-xNx forms the impurity energy state in the TiO2 energy band gap and reduces the energy band gap. This is the main reason leading to the red shift of absorption edge.

PLASMA MODIFICATION OF POLYPROPYLENE SURFACES AND GRAFTING COPOLYMERIZATION OF STYRENE ONTO POLYPROPYLENE

The surface of polypropylene （iPP） is modified with glow discharge plasma of Ar, so that the modified surfaces of iPP films are obtained. The studies of scanning electron microscopy （SEM） show the surface etching pattern of iPP films. The chemical structures of iPP films are confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spectroscopy. The wetting properties of modified surfaces of iPP films are characterized by contact angle, and the free energy of surfaces is calculated. The free radical of modification surfaces of iPP is measured by chemical method. The surfaces of iPP are achieved with Ar plasma treatment followed by grafting copolymerization with styrene （St） in St. The grafting polymer of St onto iPP is characterized by FTIR. The grafting rate is dependent on plasma exposure time and discharge voltage. The studies show that homopolymerization of St is undergone at the sane time during the graftingcopolymerization of St onto/PP.

Carrier transport characteristics of H-terminated diamond films prepared using molecular hydrogen and atomic hydrogen

The H-terminated diamond films, which exhibit high surface conductivity, have been used in high-frequency and high-power electronic devices. In this paper, the surface conductive channel on specimens from the same diamond film was obtained by hydrogen plasma treatment and by heating under a hydrogen atmosphere, respectively, and the surface carrier transport characteristics of both samples were compared and evaluated. The results show that the carrier mobility and carrier density of the sample treated by hydrogen plasma are 15 cm^2·V^（-1）·s^（-1） and greater than 5 × 1012 cm^（-2）, respectively, and that the carrier mobilities measured at five different areas are similar. Compared to the hydrogen-plasma-treated specimen, the thermally hydrogenated specimen exhibits a lower surface conductivity, a carrier density one order of magnitude lower, and a carrier mobility that varies from 2 to 33 cm^2·V^（-1）·s^（-1）. The activated hydrogen atoms restructure the diamond surface, remove the scratches, and passivate the surface states via the etching effect during the hydrogen plasma treatment process, which maintains a higher carrier density and a more stable carrier mobility.