The practical application of plasma treatment to polymer surfaces for improved adhesion

The treatment of polymeric surfaces by cold plasma is now widely used, in replacement of other technics using, for example, primers with solvents, regarding the problems caused by the recovery and retreatment of the effluents imposed by the new safety rules. In this article we give the basic principles and make a revue of the different kind of plasmas that can be used (DC, kHz, RF, MHz), insisting of the parameters to consider for each application. If this process is marked out for an important expansion in the near future, the build up of a big volume working chamber is only possible if all the phenomenons taking place in the treatment are well understood.