Hydrophobic surface modification of epoxy resin using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet array.

In this work, the treatment of a typical insulating materials epoxy resin for improving surface hydrophobicity using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) in Ar/trimethyl silane (TMS) is conducted. For meeting the large area treatment requirement of complicated shape insulating surface, a jet linear array consisting of five jet units is developed. The surface properties of the epoxy resin before and after the treatments are studied using contact angle measurement, scanning electron microscopy and fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. The effects of treatment time and TMS content on the water contact angle are investigated, and the treatment conditions for the maximum contact angle are obtained. It is found that dense mesh structure is formed on the surface and silicon-containing groups are introduced into the surface after treatments. The modified surfaces show a remarkable increase in water contact angle, and the surface hydrophobicity is improved accordingly. The maximum contact angles are obtained at treatment time of 300s and TMS content of 0.04%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]