Oxygen plasma surface treatment of polymer powder in a fluidized bed reactor

Abstract

The oxygen functionalities of carbonyl and carboxyl acid (C=O, C(O)O-) are formed at the outermost layer of HDPE powder by the oxygen plasma treatment in a fluidized bed reactor. The effects of operation parameters on the functionalities of the plasma treated polymer powders have been determined in a fluidized bed reactor. The intensity of oxygen functionalities on the surface of plasma-treated HDPE powder increases with increasing treatment time, but it remains constant with further treatment time. The oxygen components of the plasma-treated HDPE powder increase linearly with radio frequency power, but decrease with oxygen flow rate. Also, the oxygen component increases with increasing the composite parameter with the total plasma energy up to 6000 (GJ s/kg). A linear relationship is found between the surface oxygen and the hydrophilicity of plasma-treated powder. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.