Surface Energy and Adhesive Properties of Polyamide 12 Modified by Barrier and Radio-Frequency Discharge Plasma

The polyamide 12 foil with sufficient surface and adhesive properties to other substrates can be prepared by discharge plasma modification. For improvement of bonding and printing of polymer a surface barrier discharge plasma in N₂ and O₂ as well as a radio-frequency discharge plasma in air has been studied. A significant increase in surface energy of the polymer as well as in strength of adhesive joint to more polar polymer was found. The chemical changes of PA 12 modified by plasma were analyzed using fourier transform infra red – attenuated total reflection (FTIR–ATR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. The observed changes of surface properties of the polymer due to aging were not important.