The modification of carbon included polyethylene surface by plasma treatment for metallizing using a low pressure RF discharge plasma

Surface modification of the carbon included polyethylene (semi-conductive PE) surface for metallizing using a low pressure RF discharge plasma has been carried out. The contact angle was used as a measure of the wettability of the PE surface. The roughness and the chemical bondings in PE surface layer were analized by DFM and XPS, respectively. Typical results show that the contact angle decreases from approximately 94degrees to below 10degrees after several minutes' treatment and recovers to a saturation value when it was put open to the air after treatment. The saturation value of the contact angle is smaller as the gas pressure for treatment is higher and the treatment time is longer but all are below approximately 60degrees which is still smaller than that of untreated. DFM and XPS results show that the surface roughness and the bondings; C-O and C=O in the PE surface layer also increase with increasing the treatment time and seem to be responsible for improving the hydrophilic property of PE. After pretreatment process, nickel was coated on the PE sheet by electrodeposition method and a good adhesion between the nickel layer and the PE surface compared with that of untreated was obtained.