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Abstracto

N2, N2-Ar and N2–He DC Plasmas for the improvement of Polymethylmethacrylate surface wettability

Naglaa. M. Elsayed, Magdy. M. Mansour, Omar. F. Farag and Mohammed. H. Elghazaly

The objective of the present work is to investigate the effect of low power, low pressure DC glow discharge plasma of N2, N2-Ar and N2–He gases on the surface free energy and the morphology of the surface of PMMA films. For this purpose lab-prepared PMMA samples were exposed to three gas environments under the same discharge conditions (discharge power, pressure, and sample electrode spacing). Changes in the surface hydrophilicity, morphology, and chemical composition of the treated samples were characterized by contact angle measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and FTIR- spectroscopy. Treatment of PMMA with N2, N2-Ar, and N2–He gases showed an increase in the surface free energies. The SEM and FTIR detected changes in the treated surfaces morphology and the formation of new functional groups.