Supercritical Fluid-assisted Electroless Copper Plating of Aramid Film:The Influence of Surface Treatment

A process of metalizing aramid fibers using supercritical CO2 (sc-CO2) followed by electroless copper plating has been developed recently. However, some applications require larger conductive surfaces without losing any of aramid fibers qualities (heat and chemical resistance, high strength, high flexibility). In response to such requirements, we developed in our present study a method of plating aramid film after impregnating it with organometallic complexes using sc-CO2 as a medium. In order to achieve uniform plating coupled with a high adhesiveness of the plated layer, two factors were examined. The impregnated Pd was reduced by two agents, NaBH4 in aqueous solution and H2 gas, in order to increase the amount of Pd metal present on the film surface. We found that the reduction of Pd did improve the plating of the aramid film. In spite of this, the adhesion of the shiny copper-colored layer had low strength.