Atmospheric pressure plasma for adhesion improvement in polyurethane coating on polypropylene fabrics

Atmospheric pressure plasma treatment modifies the surface of textile materials at nano level. The effectiveness of plasma surface modification is closely associated with fabric weave construction and surface structure. Adhesion properties of three different polypropylene (PP) fabrics with a polyurethane (PU) coating have been investigated with respect to different plasma treatment time and power.

Substantial increase in adhesion of PU on plasma-treated samples was observed.

Enhancing surface properties

As evident from results captured using various characterisation techniques, atmospheric pressure plasma treatment enhances the surface properties (hydprophilicity, surface morophology and surface chemistry) without affecting the bulk (tensile strength) properties.

It was shown that the plasma treatment parameters as well as the textile structure play an important role in adhesion improvement. Further, it has been observed that the effectiveness of the plasma treatment is closely linked to the structure of the textiles fabrics.

The study can be found in Journal of Coatings Technology and Research volume 17 (2020).

Image source: Pixabay.