Surface Modification of Textile Fibers and Cords by Plasma Polymerization

In this paper we report on the treatment of industrial fibers and cords by means of plasma polymerization techniques. Coatings of plasma-polymerized pyrrole or acetylene were deposited on aramid fibers, aramid cords and polyester cords. The equipment was a custom-built semi-continuous reactor operated on a pulsed DC glow discharge. The fibers and cords were tested for adhesion to various polymers such as tire cord skim stock rubber compounds and epoxy adhesives. Standard industrial pull-out force adhesion measurement techniques were used. The deposition conditions of the plasma polymer films were varied within wide limits. It was found that, in general, films deposited under low-power and high-pressure conditions performed better than films prepared under high-power and low-pressure conditions. For some systems pulsing of the discharge power improved the performance further. For all systems studied, the optimized plasma polymer surface modification outperformed current industrial standards. The plasma-polymerized coatings were characterized by various techniques and the excellent performance results are explained in a tentative model based on the molecular structure of the films. This structure was found to be strongly dependent on the discharge conditions.