Designing Hydrophobicity of the PLA Polymer Blend Surfaces by ICP Etching.

A novel method for designing hydrophobicity of the polylactide/low-density polyethylene (PLA/PE-LD) blends by creating specific surface topography is proposed. In order to increase hydrophobicity by changing the topography of two-phase PLA polymer blend surface, blends are etched by using ICP before the fluorocarbon-based coating treatment done in the second step. During the surface treatment process PLA is etched significantly more than PE-LD and specific 'island-like' surface morphology is created. It has small pillars, 15 µm wide and approximately 125 µm away from each other, which after the fluorocarbon-based treatment has very high contact angle (>120°). Without the etching, due to smooth surface, PLA/PE-LD 90/10 polymer blend contact angle is between 100° and 110°. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]