Issue 11, 2017

Adhesive-free adhesion between polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and isobutylene–isoprene rubber (IIR) via heat-assisted plasma treatment

Abstract

A polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surface was modified using atmospheric pressure plasma treatment under heating (heat-assisted plasma treatment) to promote its direct adhesion to isobutylene–isoprene rubber (IIR) without any adhesives. Plasma-treated PTFE and unvulcanised IIR were thermally compressed and their adhesion strength was evaluated via a T-peel test. Heat-assisted plasma treatments conducted above 250 °C drastically increased the adhesion strength over 2.0 N mm−1 before IIR failure. The plasma-treated PTFE surface was evaluated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, nanoindentation and scanning electron microscopy. The results of these analyses indicated that the adhesion strength drastically increased because heat-assisted plasma treatment promoted the formation of carbon–carbon crosslinks and/or etching of a weak boundary layer (WBL) on the PTFE surface. This led to the recovery of the WBL in PTFE, which resulted in the prevention of PTFE inter-layer peeling in the WBL. In addition, the estimated lifetime of the surface modification surprisingly exceeded one year.

Graphical abstract: Adhesive-free adhesion between polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and isobutylene–isoprene rubber (IIR) via heat-assisted plasma treatment

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Dec 2016
Accepted
10 Jan 2017
First published
20 Jan 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 6432-6438

Adhesive-free adhesion between polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and isobutylene–isoprene rubber (IIR) via heat-assisted plasma treatment

Y. Ohkubo, K. Ishihara, H. Sato, M. Shibahara, A. Nagatani, K. Honda, K. Endo and Y. Yamamura, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 6432 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA27642C

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