Surface modification and characterization of polypropylene fibers

• Main Author: Tan, Terry Jian Hong.
• Other Authors: Chian Kerm Sin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Mechanics and dynamics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/53941
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Polypropylene-based materials are well known for their surface smoothness and chemical inertness and this poses a significant limitation to their adhesion strength to epoxy resins. In this study, the adhesion of polypropylene (PP) fibers to epoxy resins will be examined through performing pull-out tests on the embedded fibers in the experiments. Polypropylene fibers will undergo argon plasma treatment that uses RF plasma technology to explore the potential of surface modification as a means of improving the interfacial bonding strength. This surface modification comes with physical etching of the surface as well as alterations to the chemical characteristics of the fiber surface. Surface characterization were carried out using the SEM for surface topography as well as the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy or XPS to get some insights of the chemical characteristics of the treated PP fiber surface. The results obtained confirmed the ability of the argon plasma treatment to enhance adhesion with both physical and chemical reasons accounting for it. However, due to the commercial application of the PP fiber/specimen for the reverse osmosis process, argon plasma treatment may be deemed unsuitable after all.