Surface modification and characterisation of polypropylen

• Main Author: Lee, WenBin.
• Other Authors: Chian Kerm Sin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/54160
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Polyethylene (PE) is commonly used for many purposes throughout many industries due to its excellent properties. However, PE has low surface energy, which results in poor interfacial adhesion. One of the solutions to improve the interfacial adhesion will be to modify the surface of PE. There are many methods of surface modification. One such method is the plasma treatment. For this report, argon plasma was chosen as the working method for the surface modification of PE fibres. The experiment began with the preparation of the fibres, which included cleaning of the fibres. Next, the PE fibres were treated with argon plasma and embedded into a two-parts epoxy. Upon curing, the samples were then put through the tensile test. The data collected were later analyzed. It was found that the maximum load increases with the increase in plasma treatment time. This indicated that the interfacial adhesion strength was present. Furthermore, plasma treated fibres broke during the tensile test while the non-treated fibres got delaminated from the epoxy. These served as a supporting evidence for the presence of improved interfacial adhesion strength. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images showed a relatively smooth surface on both non-treated and argon plasma treated fibres. Therefore, the results had proven that plasma treatment had increased the interfacial adhesion strength between PE fibre and the epoxy. This study could be used as reference for future researchers in the study of surface modification of Polyethylene (PE).