• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.35-41
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• 2004

Poly(ethylene terephthalate), polyimide(Kapton), and polypropylene surfaces were modified with argon low temperature plasma by RF glow discharge at 240m Torr, 40W to investigate the surface morphological changes due to the plasma treatment using atomic force microscopy(AFM). Analysis of the AFM images and Ra(average roughness) revealed that the plasma treatment resulted in significant ablation on the surfaces. The morphological changes and surface roughness, however, were different depending on material characteristics such as heat stability, presence of amorphous region, swelling phenomenon, and molecular structure of repeating unit. It was assumed that polypropylene due to its tertiary hydrogen was ablated easily compared to poly(ethylene terephthalate), and that polyimide was more resistant to the ablation than PET due to rigid skeleton of imide and stable phenyl ring structure.