Enhancement of surface properties on commercial polymer packaging films using various surface treatment processes (fluorination and plasma)

Before considering their combination on commercial packaging films, two surface treatments processes were investigated. Indeed, direct fluorination and plasma processes are currently recognized as effective processes to improve polymer surface properties. The aim of this first work is to elucidate mechanisms that occur on the treated surface. The modifications of the surface layer were characterized using various complementary spectroscopy techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, high resolution solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) with 19F nucleus which are suitable to determine the nature of bonding and specific groups formed during the process. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) was also achieved to extract the surface chemical compositions. In addition, surface properties of the treated films were studied by specific measurements of surface energy in order to reveal surface parameters such as rugosity and chemical composition which could be adjusted. All these results underline that the layer induced regardless of the two processes plays a key role in the enhancement of the surface properties.