Deposition of vinyl acetic acid through the pulsed rf plasma polymerization

Abstract

In this paper, pulsed rf plasma polymerization using vinyl acetic acid was investigated to obtain plasma polymers with less cross-linked structure and high-degr ee retention of the starting monomer groups. The chemical structure and the surf ace morphology of the polymerized vinyl acetic acid were characterized by Fourie r transform infrared ( FTIR) spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS ) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The duty cycles were observed to be on e of the key parameters to change the film structure. The FTIR results showed th at more carboxylic groups could be “retained” with the decrease of the duty cy cles. The XPS results were consistent with the FTIR measurements. Surface energy measurements indicated that the plasma films were hydrophilic. So controlling t he chemical composition with some special surface functional groups being “rete nted” or “tailored” was available by pulsed plasma technologies. Some regular graft “lighting” network patterns were interestingly found in the plasma fil ms kept at room temperature for some time by SEM. It was estimated that the plas ma polymerization proceeded differently along the “lighting” network and on th e valley of the pattern. The details need to be further studied.