Influence of cold radiofrequency air and nitrogen plasmas treatment on wetting of polypropylene by the liquid epoxy resin

Plasma treatment increases the specific surface energy of condensed phases: solids and liquids. Impact of the radiofrequency air and nitrogen cold plasmas on the surface properties of the polypropylene film and liquid epoxy resin was investigated. Solid/air and solid/liquid interfacial tensions are increased by plasma treatment. The presented experiments enabled separation of the increase in the interfacial tensions due to the plasma irradiation. The solid/air interfacial tension was modified by oxygen and nitrogen plasmas stronger than the solid/liquid interfacial tension. The impact of the air and nitrogen cold plasma treatments on the contact angle hysteresis is reported.