Fluorine Plasma Treatments of Polypropylene Films, 1 – Surface Characterization

Abstract

Abstract In this work, an experimental investigation of fluorine gas (F 2 ) plasma treatment of polypropylene (PP) film reveals the evolution of PP fluorination. Surface analysis of fluorinated PP surfaces describes a surface modification process that is initially quite rapid but slows sharply as the fluorination progresses. The fluorination reaction occurs more rapidly at the PP film surface and evidence of a treatment gradient is seen in the ESCA sampling depth of 10 nm. The increasingly fluorinated surface becomes less reactive to the plasma chemistry and develops a fully fluorinated, cross‐linked surface layer that eventually extends the full ESCA sampling depth. magnified image