Radiation damage and wettability change of low energy C+ implanted polytetrafluoroethylene

The surface modification of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was carried out by carbon ion implantation. The influence of implantation parameters was investigated by varying ion dose over a wide range. The samples were implanted with 20 keV carbon ion with doses from 5 x 10(15) to 5 x 10(17) ions cm(-2), and examined by ESCA, XRD, SEM, and wettability. Five chemical bonds were formed on the surfaces of as-implanted samples, and their content changed as a function of ion dose. The crystallinity of the as-implanted samples increased gradually with increasing ion dose. Various radiation damage structures were observed. The values of droplet contact angle of the as-implanted samples increased gradually with increasing ion dose, and was very sensitive to the environmental humidity under which the droplet contact angle was measured. The experimental results show that the surface chemical bond, crystallinity, morphology, and wettability of as-implanted PTFE samples are closely dependent on the carbon ion dose. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.