Effect of plasma treatment on the mechanical properties of natural fiber/PP composites

Abstract

Atmospheric glow discharge (AGD) was developed with industrial plasma sources by using high voltage radio frequency (RF) excitation at KHz frequency ranges. It is possible to produce a steady-state uniform glow discharge at atmospheric pressure with various gases, thus eliminating the requirement for a vacuum system to expose the materials to plasma. The RF frequency should be in the limited range to produce AGD: if it is too low, the discharge will not initiate and if it is too high, the plasma will form filamentary discharge between the electrode plates or will be transformed to the arc discharge. The advantage of AGD is to modify or coat the materials with good uniformity. The AGD plasma polymerization can be used to modify the surface properties of wood powder as well as natural fiber to improve the compatibility between the fiber surface and PP matrix. The AGD surface modification process can allow the constituents to disperse quite evenly within the matrix with a strong interfacial bonding between the constituents and the matrix material.