Study on the electrical and surface properties of polyester, polypropylene, and polyamide 6 using pen-type RF plasma treatment

The plasma treating process used to adjust the functional groups and modifying surface properties and mechanical behavior is a very important treatment method. Many researches have shown the results, especially in the versatility of polymer material fields. In this study, a pen-type radio frequency plasma system was used to modify the surface of various organic materials, such as polyester, polypropylene, and polyamide 6. Because of the short distance between two stainless steel electrodes, argon has been selected to trigger the plasma. The Taguchi method was used to decide the optimal combinations of the experimental parameters such as argon gas flow amount, plasma irradiation power and time, and the distance between the plasma torch and the organic fabric samples. The L ₉ orthogonal arrays were also used to analyze the nine combinations of samples and achieve the optimal results for improving the hydrophilic ability of polyester, polypropylene, and polyamide 6. Then, the analysis of three different types of conductive resin coating on the matrix and surface resistance of the polyester, the 50d fabric type, exhibited much higher conductive ability. After washing, the fabric treated with poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene showed higher decent resistance. The experimental results found that the surface resistivity of the polyester fabric would improve by three orders and the contact angle, until reaching 180°.