| Plasma polymerization of fluorocarbon systems was investigated using the monomers C3F6, C2H2F 4, C4F10 and C3F6O, which were compared to methane and butane. In fluorocarbon discharges, the luminous gas phase does not contain much polymer-forming species and the monomer deficient domain shifted to low W/FM and low GR/FM. Furthermore, for hydrocarbon systems, deposition rate was greater for RF than for AF, which was the opposite for the fluorocarbon discharges. These differences were attributed to the nature of fluorocarbons and the locations of the dissociation glow.; Surface modification treatments were performed on seven polymers using low temperature cascade arc torch (LTCAT) of Ar with or without adding reactive gas of O2 or H2O. Ar LTCAT treatments with low treatment times (2 s) resulted in stable, hydrophilic surfaces without surface degradation from oligomer formation, with the exception of nylon-6. The surface stability induced from Ar LTCAT treatments was attributed to the CASING effect (cross linking via activated species of inert gas). Addition of O2 or H2O vapor into Ar LTCAT resulted in greater wettability, but enhanced oligomer formation, which was more pronounced with H2O. The surface oligomer formation was attributed to alkoxy degradation reactions and enhanced chain scission.; A stainless steel mesh was placed in LTCAT to remove ions and study the disturbance effects on LTCAT and on polymeric surface modification. The excited neutral species of Ar were greatly reduced by the mesh placement. In addition, grounding the mesh significantly altered the nature of the discharge. The dynamic surface characterization data indicated that while a decrease in surface damage was observed by placement of the mesh, the wettability achieved was also greatly reduced. |
