Diffuse plasma treatment of polyamide 66 fabric in atmospheric pressure air

Physicochemical Studies on the Surface of Polyamide 6.6 Fabrics Functionalized by DBD Plasmas Operated at Atmospheric and Sub-Atmospheric Pressures

“…To study the degree of chemical modifications on the surface of the substrates with a depth range between 5 and 10 nm, XPS analysis was used. With this technique, it is possible to evaluate the surface oxidation, the atomic percentage, and the number of nanoparticles on the surface of fabrics [ 10 , 47 ]. EDS analysis was used as a comparative technique with an acceleration voltage of 5 kV (depth reaching up to 0.5 μm) to analyze the oxidation and atomic percentage from the surface to the interior of the fibers [ 59 , 60 , 61 ].…”

“…As mentioned earlier, this behavior of surface bonds may be related to the aging effect on wettability, so we can assume that sample S3 reached the longest time in the hydrophilic state due the increase in the relative amount of the C-Si bonds caused by argon plasma treatment. Although the argon plasma has an inert chemistry, it promoted oxidation in the PA6.6 fabric in the same way as the air plasma, as shown in Tables 1 and 2. Therefore, both plasma chemistries break the carbon bonds of the original surface and promote the formation of hydroxyl, carboxyl, and carbon double bonds that improve the hydrophilicity of the fabrics [10,47,68]. It is worth mentioning that the removal of impurities on the surface promoted by plasma treatment is responsible for increasing surface energy and, consequently, for increasing hydrophilicity [26].…”

“…These characteristics, associated with lower manufacturing costs, make PA6.6 an important thermoplastic used in molded components used in the automotive industry [ 3 , 4 , 5 ], filtration applications [ 1 , 6 , 7 ], and numerous engineering applications [ 8 ]. However, in the past two decades, PA6.6 has become one of the prominent polyamide fibers in the textile industry, used for the manufacture of industrial textiles, yarns, carpets, and clothing [ 9 , 10 ]. Despite the excellent aforementioned properties, due to their nature, PA6.6 fibers have weaknesses in terms of hydrophobicity and low surface energy, which reduce clothing comfort, coloring, and adhesion properties for large-scale industrial applications [ 10 , 11 ].…”

“…However, in the past two decades, PA6.6 has become one of the prominent polyamide fibers in the textile industry, used for the manufacture of industrial textiles, yarns, carpets, and clothing [ 9 , 10 ]. Despite the excellent aforementioned properties, due to their nature, PA6.6 fibers have weaknesses in terms of hydrophobicity and low surface energy, which reduce clothing comfort, coloring, and adhesion properties for large-scale industrial applications [ 10 , 11 ]. These issues generate high economic and environmental costs for the textile industry, mainly related to chemical pretreatment that consumes large amounts of chemical compounds, water, and energy [ 12 ].…”

“…This dry method has the advantages of being environmentally friendly, worker friendly, operating at atmospheric or sub-atmospheric pressure, and can modify the surface of the textiles without affecting their bulk properties, in addition to being suitable for most heat-sensitive polymeric textile materials [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. The types of plasmas most used on textiles are used at atmospheric pressure, namely (i) plasma jet (PJ), (ii) glow discharge (GD), (iii) corona discharge (CD), and (iv) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 19 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Among them, DBD technology appears as a promising method for the functionalization of polymeric textiles.…”