Degradation Phenomena On Atmospheric Air Plasma Treatment Of Polyester Fabrics

Surface treatments are commonly employed on woven fabrics to render properties such as dyeability, antibacterial feature, self-cleaning, etc. A variety of environmentally benign cold plasma treatments present a viable alternative to the conventional wet chemical processes. The various plasma designs, however, may differ in the efficiency and the effect they exert on the fabrics. In this work a polyester woven fabric was treated by diffuse co-planar surface barrier discharges in atmospheric air for various lengths of time. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigation revealed that changes in surface chemistry occurred within 30 s of treatment. Carbon containing contaminations were removed and the surface became more oxidized, however, new chemical states have not been developed. As an effect, wettability and wickability of the fabric significantly increased. A slight increase in the roughness also occurred after treatment according to AFM measurements. The tensile strength of the fabric showed a gradually decreasing trend with respect to treatment time that could be attributed to damaged sites in the fabric generated by the local excessive etching of the plasma. The results show the detrimental effect of prolonged plasma treatment on the woven poly(ethylene-terephthalate) (PET) fabrics. Employing longer treatment times of 120 s and 180 s the mechanical properties reduced by ca. 40% and 50%, respectively, without significant changes in the surface morphology.