Method of modifying the surface of a solid polymer substrate and

Details Method of modifying the surface of a solid polymer substrate and Method of modifying the surface of a solid polymer substrate and

1998-12-15

2000-10-03

Berman, Susan W.

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture

Methods

Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor

1563073, 428364, 428421, 428447, 4284744, 428523, 522116, 522126, 522136, 522139, 522140, 522146, 522915, C09J 404, C09J 502, C08J 328, C08J 718

Patent

active

061267767

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a method of modifying the surface of a solid polymer substrate and the product obtained.
Untreated or unmodified polymer substrates are in general difficult to paint, print on or adhere to. Particularly, it is difficult to achieve a bonding between an untreated polymer surface and an organic top layer.
It is well-known in the art to clean the surface of a polymer substrate or to modify the surface of the substrate in order to change the surface characteristics of the substrate and thereby improve the affinity between the substrate surface and an organic binder.
The surface treatments normally used are flaming, chemical treatment with chrome sulphuric acid, or corona treatment. Flaming is the simplest method. In this method the substrate surface is stroked by a flame. Both the flaming treatment and the chemical treatment are very rough methods which may weaken the cohesiveness of the polymer substrate. Further, it is normally preferred to avoid the use of strong acids in the production. One of the problems of using flame treatment is that the method is not controllable. Often the surface of the polymer is severely degraded due to this treatment.
One of the most conventional methods is corona treatment. By use of this method a number up small sparks are created on the substrate surface (a silent discharge) These sparks often result in an erosion of the surface as well in a generation of free radicals. The free radicals are normally terminated by reaction with oxygen.
The article by K. Johnsen et. al. "Modification of Polyolefin Surfaces by Plasma-Induced Grafting" Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 59, pp. 1651-1657 (1996), describes a method of modifying polyolefin surfaces by grafting polar monomers onto the surface. The grafting is initiated by a treatment of a LD-PE substrate surface with argon plasma for 5 minutes, whereby free radicals are generated. Thereafter, or simultaneously, the surface is treated with one of the following monomers: Acrylic acid, glycidyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxy ethylacrylate and methyl acrylate. The grafting time was from 7 to more than 90 minutes. The contact angle against water for the (acrylic acid monomer) treated LD-PE surface was improved from about 91.5.degree. to about 38.degree.. However, it was not tested if the affinity between the treated LD-PE surface and an organic binder actually was improved. It was finally concluded that the method is too slow to be of direct industrial application.
A similar method of plasma treatment of PTFE surfaces is described in JP patent application No. 55-131026. A PTFE surface was treated with a He gas plasma for 2-10 minutes and simultaneously treated with N,N-dimethylaniline, N-monomethylaniline, aniline, benzonitrile, benzamide or pyridine monomers. An oxygen plasma treatment of PTFE was conducted without monomer treatment, and peel tests of the PTFE samples showed that there was no significant difference in peel resistance between the PTFE surfaces that were treated with monomers and the PTFE surfaces that were only treated with oxygen plasma. Actually, the latter had a better peel resistance than the monomer treated surfaces.
A method of electroless plating is described in JP application No. 92-240189. In this method a PTFE substrate is irradiated with UV laser in the presence of amine or amide followed by an immersing in an electroless metal plating solvent. This result in a good bonding of the plated metal to the substrate. However, this method can only be used for adhering thin metal layers to polymer substrates.
Another method for treatment of a fluorinated polymer is described in JP patent application No. 90-081728. In this method a polymerisable monomer selected between acrylic acid, styrene sulphonic acid and acrylamide is grafted onto the surface of the resin by coating the surface with a monomer solvent, followed by irradiation of the surface with UV laser.
The object of the present invention is to provide a industrially applicable method of binding a polymer substrate to an organic b

REFERENCES:
patent: 3977954 (1976-08-01), Needles et al.
patent: 4333963 (1982-06-01), Emmons et al.
patent: 4752426 (1988-06-01), Cho
patent: 5348772 (1994-09-01), Demuth et al.
"Modification of Polyolefin Surfaces by Plasma-Induced Grafting," Johnsen, et al. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, vol. 59, No. 30, Mar. 1996, 1651-1657.
"Surface structures and adhesion characteristics of poly(tetrafluorethylene) films after modification by graft copolymerization, " J. Adhes, Sci. Technol. 1996, 725-743.
"Grafting organic coupounds onto fibrous textile materials, " Malcik, et al. Czech., CAPLUS accession No. 1982:53774.

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