Surface Modification of Conventional Polymers by Depositing Plasma Polymers of Trimethylsilane and of Trimethylsilane...

The static wetting properties of TMS (trimethylsilane) and TMS + O2 plasma deposited films on eleven low energy conventional polymers were investigated using the sessile droplet method. The static advancing contact angle is an excellent indication of the change in surface state properties from plasma surface modification. However, traditional contact angle measuring techniques possess a methodological limitation, which can leave a water droplet on the substrate surface for up to 3 min before a measurement is obtained. The static "advancing" contact angles of different size water droplets on teflon and nylon surfaces were observed to change significantly in 2 min while equilibrating with the surface and surroundings. A new quick image-capturing device enables static contact angle measurement 2 to 4 s after contact with the substrate. This technique virtually eliminates the time dependent effects of evaporation and surface state change, which are believed to be responsible for the change in static advancing contact angles. Furthermore, static contact angles independent of droplet volume and contact time may be taken as a surface characteristic property, which is denoted as the intrinsic static contact angle, θS. The static "advancing" contact angle, measured in this fashion, indicated that the wetting properties of TMS and TMS + O2 plasma polymer deposition on 10 conventional polymers were modified virtually independent of the underlying substrate. The average advancing contact angles on TMS and TMS + O2 modified polymers are θS = 94 +/- 2.2 (cos θS = -0.0645) and θS = 32 +/- 6.9 (cos θS = 0.8452), respectively. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.